Mike P.--
I currently teach at a "#3" (Wheeling Jesuit University) and my prior teaching position was at a #4.
Regarding the requirements to be a professor at a Sectarian-Catholic university, I can't speak to the demands on members of religion/theology department at my university (though now I'm going to ask them!) but I do know I never had to sign a statement of faith nor was there a conversation during my interview process about the importance of teaching courses in a way consistent with Catholic values and beliefs.
Regarding my experience at a #4 (moderately conservative Baptist when I started, ultraconservative when I left) I did have to sign off on a statement saying that in the classroom I would not contradict their "faith and message" document, but I it was not a document that required me to "believe" in that "faith and message document. I was free to discuss/cover/lecture on any topic I wanted. When I (and several colleagues and administrators) decided to leave, it was because 1) the institution was moving toward requiring all faculty to sign a document indicating agreement with the content of the faith and message, and
2) faculty would be required to provide their position on three "litmus" topics [my phrase not theirs], one of which was evolution/creation.
Julie Osland
Wheeling Jesuit University
(3) Private Colleges that are Sectarian-Catholic: Catholic
colleges often will be sectarian but this does not mean that
(a) all of the faculty at such institutions are Catholic nor
(b) all students at such institutions are Catholic. The Catholic
colleges and universities will have departments of religion and
theology though it is my understanding that not all students are
required to take courses in them (NOTE: a colleague at a major
Catholic university expressed surpise when he learned that
incoming students were directed into different curricula depending
upon whether they identified themselves as Catholic or not;
I assume that Catholic students may have been required to
take a certain number of credits in religion/theology while
non-Catholics would not or only be required to take an intro to
religion course).
Catholic institutions do put certain demands on their faculty.
Faculty in departments of religion and theology are bound
by the Pope's "Mandatum" that their teaching is consistent with
with Catholic dogma and re-affirms Catholic values and beliefs
(perhaps this is to keep the faculty going Hans Kung route).
Faculty in non-religion/theology departments are advised to
generally teach their courses consistent with Catholic values
and beliefs but I am unsure whether these faculty are also held
to the Mandatum or have sign a "statement of faith" affirming
Catholicism.
In order to receive federal and state funding, the religious programs
are kept seperate from the non-religious. The Pope has affirmed that
faith and reason can and should co-exist and science can provide
useful knowledge and understanding of the physical world beyond
what the Bible can provide. Thus, evolution is accepted and
creationism/ID is seen as peculiar system associated with certain
Protestant groups. Nonetheless, the current Pope has been
outspoken on trying to reign in the U.S. colleges and universities
as shown in the following article:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/512391.html
(4) Private Colleges that are Sectarian-Non-Catholic: A variety of
religions have affiliated colleges and universities (see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Universities_and_colleges_by_religious_affiliation )
but the majority of these will be some flavor of non-Catholic
Christian faith. These schools can range from liberal in matters
theological and political to ultraconservative. An extreme example
of a conservative Christian college is "Patrick Henry College" (PHC), see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry_College .
What is perhaps most noteworthy about PHC is its alleged connection
to the U.S. Republican party and the George W. Bush administration
(e.g., quoting from Wikipedia:
| It also attracted attention because a number of the school's students
|gained White House internships and opportunities within the Bush administration:
|in spring 2004, seven of the 100 student White House interns were from
|PHC, which had only 240 students at the time.[11] This is the same number
|of interns Georgetown University had during the same period.[14] )
PHC also had problem in obtaining accreditation as a college because of its
insistence on teaching creationism/ID in biology courses; see the
following article from "Christianity Today":
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/july8/15.16.html?start=1
PHC received accreditation in 2007 as detailed in the wikipedia article
though it is unclear what effect this had on biology and other courses
that had religious content mixed in.
A practice that some Christian colleges and universities have is that all
students and faculty must sign a "Statement of Faith" which demonstrates
their affirmation of the beliefs in the statement. Quoting the Wikipedia
entry:
|Religious affirmations
|
|All students must sign a "Statement of Faith" before they arrive,
|affirming belief in what the college considers core Christian doctrines.
|For example, students are asked to acknowledge "Satan exists as a
|personal, malevolent being who acts as tempter and accuser, for
|whom Hell, the place of eternal punishment, was prepared, where
|all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment
|for eternity", and "Christ's death provides substitutionary atonement
|for our sins."[23] The college professes non-denominational Christian
|beliefs.
|
|Teaching faculty must also sign the "Statement of Faith", plus a more
|detailed "Statement of Biblical Worldview", which represents the College's
|requirements for what should be taught.[24] For example the Biblical
|Worldview Applications states that, "Any biology, Bible, or other courses
|at PHC dealing with creation will teach creation from the understanding
|of Scripture that God's creative work, as described in Genesis 1:1-31,
|was completed in six twenty-four hour days." [25]New Scientist has
|claimed that Patrick Henry College and the homeschooling community
|in general were "possibly threatening the public school system that has
|fought hard against imposing a Christian viewpoint on science teaching."[5]
I think it should be obvious how such a viewpoint might also constrain
or affect the teaching of psychology at such institutions. PHC has
dismissed employees on the basis of disagreements with the Statement
of Faith (according to Wikipedia, a library clerk promoted the position
that baptism is essential for salvation, a position that is inconsistent with
PHC statement). It should be noted that Statements of Faith have been
interpreted as a restriction on academic freedom, notably by the
American Association of University Professiors (AAUP). See their
statement which appeared in their journal "Academe":
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2006/JF/Feat/wagn.htm
I have gone through this review in order to reach a particular point, namely,
the "Statement of Faith" for Taylor College:
http://www.taylor-edu.ca/about/doctrine.htm
Quoting from the statement:
|Statement of Faith
|
|Taylor seeks to maintain a position which is faithful to the scriptures as
|understood through the Baptist theological tradition. We believe that it
|is the right and responsibility of each believer to arrive at an understanding
|of the Christian faith which is based on Scripture interpreted in accordance
|with his/her conscience. Although no human statement of faith should
|be considered to be creedally binding, the following “Statement of Beliefs”*
|adopted by the North American Baptist Conference meeting in Triennial
|Session at Niagara Falls, New York, on August 12, 1982, expresses the
|doctrinal consensus of the denomination. It provides the basis for doctrinal
|instruction at Taylor.
|
|(1) We believe the Bible is God's Word given by divine inspiration, the
|record of God's revelation of Himself to humanity (II Timothy 3:16). It is
|trustworthy, sufficient, without error - the supreme authority and guide for
|all doctrine and conduct (I Peter 1:23-25; John 17:17; II Timothy 3:16-17).
|It is the truth by which God brings people into a saving relationship with
|Himself and leads them to Christian maturity (John 20:31; I John 5:9-12;
|Matthew 4:4; I Peter 2:2).
I do not mean to say that PHC and Taylor college espouse the same
statement of faith though it appears that their statements may have
commonalities. How Taylor college's statement translates into what
can be taught in the classroom, whether creationism/ID is taught in
biology courses or whether the Bible informs psychology classes,
I cannot say (NOTE: Taylor college is a Canadian school and I am
unfamiliar with the standard college curriculum up there though I would
suspect it has commonalities with US schools).
If he pleases, Prof. Smith might answer these questions.
In summary, it appears that there are two answers to the question I posed
in the Subject line:
(1) Not at all.
(2) Very, very carefully if one doesn't want to lose their job.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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