What would happen if an atheist for some reason decided to apply to a seminary or a religiously based college, like, say, Oral Roberts University? Would they have to fake faith in order to be admitted? To what extent can religious institutions select applicants based on nonquantifiable criteria such as degree of religious fervor?
(I’m just having a flashback today to my Jewish agnostic self at age 17, skimming the big, fat guide to U.S. colleges and universities, and I swear I remember one of the admission requirements for Oral Roberts University was something like "a personal salvation experience with Jesus Christ. Not that I would have done such a thing, but I was always curious about what might happen.)
I had a colleague who applied to and was accepted (damned if I remember for sure but I think maybe Oberlin?) for a PhD program in philosophy. She did not get grilled as to her own beliefs as far as getting in.
However, when setting up her dissertation, she had an unpleasant conversation with an advisor that went something like this:
Private universities can set pretty much whatever criteria they want. You might have to write an essay, and get recommendations from a pastor, and sign a statement of faith. Not everyone can fake his way through this, but some manage. I know there were some people at my university with whom I was not very impressed, and it had required all those things.
If Oberlin has any religious affiliation, I’d have guessed UU. (For that matter, I have trouble picturing that conversation at any of the Catholic colleges or universities that I’ve encountered, although it would not surprise me to find an individual professor taking that tack.)
I met my ex husband at Oklahoma Baptist University, he got in without any problems, apparently. He’s an atheistish/ agnosticish type of guy, and wouldn’t be ashamed to say it if asked. But he had the grades to get a full scholarship at the time. So I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I’m pretty sure we had to write some sort of essay kinda thing, but apparently it didn’t deter the admissions people from letting him in.
Maybe they thought they could convert him. Heehee…jokes on them. He ended up corrupting me…
Some years ago, I was offered a teaching job at a private university here in Seoul that was founded as a Christian school. It no longer focuses primarily on religious studies; it’s just another university that happens to have a religious past. The interviewer told me that I’d have to sign a statement of faith, stating that I was a Christian and would live a Christian lifestyle while employed there.
While I’m not a Christian, you could probably follow me for months without catching me doing anything outside the “Christian lifestyle,” except for staying home on Sunday mornings. I live a healthy, ethical life, but not for religious reasons. I explained this to the interviewer, and she told me just to sign the thing and forget it, that no one would ever check up on it–I could stay drunk every weekend on Hooker Hill* if I wanted, and as long as I behaved on campus, everything would be cool. I took a job at a different school instead, a slightly less prestigious but more secular school. I may be an atheist, but I’m not a liar. Generally, I mean.
Seems to me that a knowledgeable atheist could fake it and get admitted, but probably wouldn’t be happy there. In my case, it was only my conscience that held me back–I could have just feigned credulity and taken the job. In a seminary, where religion is the focus, the lie would need constant maintenance. Can’t imagine it being worth the effort, unless one wanted to infiltrate Christianity somehow, get inside and do subversive things. Me, I’d just find another school.
[sub]*an infamous neighborhood in Seoul, for reasons that I think are self-explanatory.[/sub]
Most religious universities don’t require members to be adherents of the faith of the university. They’re goal is to teach particular subjects. Even if the subject is their theology, they’re usually happy to be given the chance to teach that theology to non-believers both for getting their message out and the hope of winning a convert.
Most seminaries, on the other hand, require it’s students to be members of their faith, since the goal of the seminary is to form ministers of the faith.
Peace.
Do you have to be a ward of the state to go to a state college?
Well, first off, there’s a big difference between enrolling in a seminary and enrolling at a university where you hope to study religion. If you join a seminary, the expectation is that you’re going to become a clergyman, which means that the religious denomination running the seminary is going to expect you to espouse certain beliefs. Some denominations will be stricter than others in what they expect seminarians to believe, but very few are likely to accept atheists.
If, on the other hand, you’re a non-believer who simply finds religious subject matter fascinating (one can find the Bible interesting without taking it seriously, just as it’s possible to love the Iliad without believing in Zeus or Athena), you won’t have any trouble finding secular universities with thriving theology departments where you won’t be expected or required to believe anything in particular or to espouse any particular doctrine.
Even at many nominally religious colleges, a non-believer can fit in comfortably at a theology department. Oh, the non-believer would do well to steer clear of Bible Belt fundamentalist schools, but I’m quite certain there are loads of agnostic/atheist professors of theology at Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, and similar “Catholic” schools.
At Brigham Young University (AKA: BYU) there is no requirement for the student body (or even the faculty) to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA: Mormons). All students are required to sign and expected to live by the honor code. Which states
As part of the honor code there is an ecclesiastical endorsement which states for non-Mormons:
Non-LDS faculty do exist at BYU. All faculty hiring is subject to church approval. People offered jobs are interviewed. While I was there my roommate (pre-med) had an evolution class taught by a non member. The prof. joked that he was probably the most thoroughly vetted person on campus.
Bob Jones University, which I would think is about the MOST likely to have religeous restrictions, does indeed require you to answer a few question on the application – “Do you attend church regurlay” and “Denominational preference”, but I see no other specifications.
But I believe these receive public funding, and so cannot discriminate against applicants based upon religion.
Show me a religious school with no federal or state funding, and odds are they will have FAR more restrictive entrance criteria.
The religious university I am most familiar with, Wheaton College (IL), does not to my knowledge require a statement of faith to get in. At least I don’t think it does. However, it does require students and faculty to adhere to a ‘code of conduct’ and requires mandatory chapel attendance for students. So an atheist would probably not be happy having to go to chapel every day, even if she didn’t have to pretend to believe what was said there.