22AR27-11
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AR 27:11 - Is there a widespread "crisis of faith" on campus?
In this issue:
COLLINS, FRANCIS - continued vaccine advocacy despite conflicts of interest
HIGHER EDUCATION - religious parents worry that higher education will weaken their children’s belief" — but does it?
JESUS - an up-to-date overview of findings related to Jesus
POLITICS - "biblical support for conservative political positions ... is only possible when making such distortions"
Apologia Report 27:11 (1,564)
March 23, 2022
COLLINS, FRANCIS
"Former NIH Director Francis Collins Draws Fire for Vaccine Advocacy Among Leading Evangelicals" by Sarah Einselen (Roys Report, Feb 8 '22) -- "Collins cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that vaccine hesitancy or resistance contributed to more than 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the Religion News Service reported. <www.bit.ly/3N8nwI5>
"He suggested vaccine resistance was partly the result of Christians falling for misinformation."
However, in a recent Daily Wire article <www.bit.ly/3NdegCo> conservative writer Megan Basham 'accused Collins of trying to suppress questions surrounding the source of COVID-19 and the efficacy of the federal COVID-19 response.' ...
"In last week's BioLogos webinar <www.bit.ly/3iwlT8V> ['Faith and Science in an Age of Tribalism'], Collins said he was surprised by how much his shared faith mattered to Christians. Researchers, he said, have found that 'unless that truth comes at you from somebody you trust, you're not going to call it truth at all.' ...
"About two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants had gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine when Pew Research polled Americans in late August. At the time, 70% of black Protestants had done so, and almost three-quarters of Americans in general. ...
"BioLogos <biologos.org>, which Collins founded, also advocates for 'an evolutionary understanding of God's creation.'
"According to Pew Research, only about a third of evangelicals think humans evolved <www.pewrsr.ch/37LILit> and a majority oppose abortion and same-sex marriage. ...
"[A] medical doctor noted on social media that Collins was 'far from the only medical doctor urging masking, vaccination, and reasonable public health interventions.' In fact there have been doctors and nurses in churches all across the country giving the same message to evangelicals." <www.bit.ly/3CfM4JV>
And of course, many medical professionals find the healthcare sector bringing great harm in these areas as well. <www.americasfrontlinedoctors.org>
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HIGHER EDUCATION
"There’s No Crisis of Faith on Campus: Many religious parents worry that higher education will weaken their children’s belief, but evidence shows the result is often just the opposite” by Ryan Burge, (Political Science, Eastern Illinois University) <ryanburge.net> (Wall Street Journal, Feb 24 '22) -- "Using data from 12 years of Harvard University’s Cooperative Election Study, an annual survey <www.bit.ly/3wtfkfj> of more than 50,000 Americans, I calculated the share who identified as atheist, agnostic and nothing in particular at six education levels, ranging from those with no high school diploma to those with graduate degrees. The results are clear: People with the least education are the most likely to indicate that they have no religious affiliation. In 2008, 26% of those without a high school diploma identified as an atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. Only 19% of those with a graduate degree did. And that 7-point gap stayed fairly consistent over the following 12 years. ...
"It pains me to say that I don't have much influence over the students in my courses. But that doesn't mean college doesn't change them. Looked at in its entirety, the college experience may actually make students more sure of their religious beliefs after they graduate. This is the idea known to psychologists as the 'inoculation effect' [regarding] how a vaccine works: It gives an individual a weakened version of the virus, so that when the immune system encounters the real thing, it can easily fight off the villain. Similarly, challenging a young person to defend their beliefs in a supportive, open environment like college may leave them better prepared to hold firm to their convictions later in life.
"This inoculation effect is borne out in data collected by the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitude Survey <ifyc.org/ideals>, which tracked thousands of young people as they progressed through four years of higher education beginning in 2015. Students who gained knowledge about religious traditions outside their own were no more likely to abandon the faith in which they were raised than those who were not exposed to other traditions. This finding held whether the college in question was private, public or religious." <www.on.wsj.com/35oUq6g> (paywalled)
Your mileage may vary. The intersection of higher education and faith has often been noted by Apologia Report. That not everyone agrees with Burge should be no surprise. However, the overall discussion is a good example of the wide spectrum of related issues our readers encounter in AR. <www.bit.ly/3KgNarQ>
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JESUS
Excavating the Evidence for Jesus: The Archaeology and History of Christ and the Gospels, by Titus M. Kennedy (professional field archaeologist; research fellow, Discovery Institute) -- the Harvest House promo asks "what does the historical and archaeological evidence say about Jesus? Archaeologist Dr. Titus Kennedy has investigated firsthand the discoveries connected to Jesus' birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. He has visited and excavated where Jesus walked, and examined the artifacts connected to Jesus' life. Here, he presents an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the research and findings that illuminate the historicity of Christ as presented in the Bible. Excavating the Evidence for Jesus progresses chronologically through the Gospels, noting the many relevant archaeological, historical, geographic, and literary findings." <www.bit.ly/3C6vps8>
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POLITICS
"Deconstructing the Republican Jesus: Biblical scholar Tony Keddie shows how the conservative movement enlisted the Bible to help its cause" by Aaron Klink (chaplain, PruittHealth Hospice in Durham, North Carolina) -- this book review applauds Keddie's belief that "the New Testament cannot responsibly be said to sanction most Republican political positions" and his efforts to "undermine the authority of any such biblical interpretations."
Kiddie's book is titled Republican Jesus: How the Right Has Rewritten the Gospels <www.bit.ly/3xADylz> and Klink explains that "few studies have examined the [conservative] movement's use of scripture" and claims that Keddie <www.bit.ly/3tw3JKD> "fills this gap by exploring the plausibility of some of the key scriptural interpretations Christian conservatives in the US put forth to justify their policy positions. His book aims to show how 'Republican Christian influencers have created an anachronistic and internally contradictory story of Jesus tailored to address the concerns and anxieties of modern conservatives.' ...
"Keddie notes that most of the influencers who create and disseminate this version of Jesus are 'wealthy, white, heterosexual men.'
"By way of example, Keddie examines Killing Jesus, the 2013 book coauthored by conservative media personality Bill O'Reilly and sports columnist Martin Dugard. <www.bit.ly/36v6csm> ...
"Keddie focuses on three strategies that political conservatives use to bypass the Bible's historical context, which he argues must be considered when attempting to apply scripture to current realities.
"They garble the text by mistranslating or limiting the meaning of its words (whether in the ancient languages or English translation); they omit relevant parts of the text by extracting a verse from its literary context and sometimes cutting out sections of verses; and they patch this cut-up text together with other cut-up texts into the framework of a carefully designed quilt that's backed by ignorance, stuffed with hatred, and sewn with self-interest. ...
"Claiming biblical support for conservative political positions on corporate regulation, immigration, and 'family values' is only possible when making such distortions, Keddie argues. For example, many antiabortion advocates employ the story of John the Baptist leaping in the womb when his mother, Elizabeth, is visited by Mary, who is pregnant with Jesus (Luke 1:39–45)." Klink champions this example and briefly outlines the reasoning employed.
Klink concludes (with a note of triumph): "Keddie performs an important service by making biblical scholarship accessible to a broad audience while discussing contemporary political topics." Christian Century, May 27 '21, <www.bit.ly/3kiDRO2>
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