“I just choose to serve a God that welcomes all,” said the assistant professor of theater and a set designer.
While the total impact of Shorter’s lifestyle statement may not be known until faculty receive their contracts for the 2012-2013 school year, many have already resigned.
The lifestyle statement says employees must find premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality “unacceptable.” Employees of the university are also forbidden to drink alcohol in public.
Last Monday, Vanice Roberts, dean of the School of Nursing, announced her resignation to help start a four-year nursing program at Berry.
During an interview Roberts said, “It’s hard to be a nurse and make strong statements about people’s lifestyles. I don’t want to be in a situation to be in judgment of someone else.”
Three other employees of the university’s nursing school have also resigned, Roberts said.
In his letter, Bristow said the lifestyle statement will have far-reaching effects.
“I also believe by limiting the faculty’s beliefs, the student enrollment will be greatly affected; thus negating Christ’s purpose for coming to be among us,” he said.
Other faculty members contacted indicated they are looking or are leaving but didn’t want to say anything publicly until they had told university officials.
The exodus appears to mirror the results of an anonymous survey completed by a group called the Committee for Integrity. Of the 61 faculty members who responded to the poll, only 12 percent indicated they planned to stay at Shorter.
But those numbers may be under-reported because no surveys were sent to staff members, said former Shorter staff member Carol Atkins in a letter to the Rome News-Tribune. She resigned her job last month.
“I can assure you that staff members at Shorter University are equally concerned for their job security as many face the difficult decision to sign the Personal Lifestyle Statement in order to keep their job or to walk away from the dangerous waters on which the Georgia Baptist Convention, Dr. Nelson Price and Dr. Don Dowless are now treading,” Atkins wrote.
As of Saturday, 33 faculty and staff positions were open at Shorter, according to the university’s website. Twelve adjunct positions were also open. The list did not include Roberts’ or Bristow’s jobs.
In a statement released last week, Shorter President Don Dowless said he was aware some faculty members were not happy.
“Change is hard, and while some disagree with the university’s direction, we’ve also experienced an influx of renewed support from students, faculty, staff and alumni alike,” Dowless said.
You can always leave sooner.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/04/12/some-shorter-university-faculty-resigning
It notes that:
"The other two Baptist colleges in Georgia, Brewton-Parker and Truett-McConnell, do not require their faculty and staff to sign such a pledge. However, they do require their faculty to be active church members."
However, it seems this policy has created a royal mess; and has alienated just about every employee on campus. That's not a good thing; and it would seem that that fact alone should make the university reconsider.
I think?
I don't think you're beating a dead horse -- your point has been one of the central questions of Western Civilization for close to 2 millennia.
Here are some reactions; I don't expect them to make you a "believer" but they may give you a different perspective from what you hear from some Christians in this area.
First, speaking to your point about Christians in general — there are between 1 and 2 billion Christians globally, the majority Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, (moderate) Reformed or Anglican. The so-called “fundamentalist” strain of Protestantism found among many in the Georgia Baptist Convention, while so strong in this area, represents only a tiny fraction of the world’s Christians. So when you talk about “Christians”, statistically the Shorter administration is not very representative. I’m only saying this “statistically” — you’ll get strong opinions locally as to whether they are in fact the only real true Christians.
As you point out, the human sacrifice thing does seem pretty ridiculous when you really think about it. The central core of Christianity is pretty bizarre and it's sure not what I would first think of if I were inventing a religion.
Second, Jesus sacrifice is only part of core Christianity; his resurrection is an even bigger part. Non-believers are even less likely to believe in this than in Jesus’ death, but for believers, Jesus’ resurrection transforms Christianity from some dreadful cult of the dead to something appealing, hopeful and positive.
Across the centuries and around the world, there have been many different interpretations of what Jesus’ death and resurrection meant.
* Did Christ die for the purpose of atonement — i.e., to take the rap for the rest of us and all the misdeeds we do through the course of life? (Many Christians believe people are even born sinful.) Some think this was necessary, others don’t see the point. Some think Jesus’ sacrifice was necessary even to settle the scales with Adam and Eve’s transgressions; others feel that, whatever their own failings, they carry no stain or sin from the mistakes of a couple that may or may not have lived 1000s of years ago.
* Some Christians think that atonement isn’t the point — that Jesus’ death and resurrection is really more God setting an example of what true divinity looks like — unqualified love for all, even to the point of self-sacrifice.
* For just about all Christians, Jesus’ resurrection represents the triumph of good over evil.
* For most Christians, Jesus’ resurrection also represents the triumph of life over death. It is a symbol and promise of what they, too, can expect — eternal life. Beyond this it gets murky and there are many opinions as to just what sort of eternal life, who gets to participate and what qualifies one for this. Is it all good people? Monotheists only? Christians only? Then who’s really a Christian? There’s been a lot of ink and, sadly (and un-Christlike), a lot of blood spilled over that last question. As for the alternative to this Christian eternal life, many Christians don’t dwell on hellfire and damnation — they just get on with life and leave it to a merciful God to sort out.
For those that believe any of this, the more important question is, “so what next?” To the consternation of theologians when they reflect on it, not one line of scripture ever records Jesus saying “understand me”. In fact, scripture shows that his closest followers seldom did; the New Testament is full of stories of their confusion and cluelessness. What Jesus is recorded in multiple places to have said are things like “follow me” and “feed my sheep”. This his disciples did understand and do. Intellectually, these simple instructions are so much easier than the study of theology and the parsing of sacred texts. As a principle for living, though, hey are very challenging and give few specific instruction as to what that means in each individual life (do I read the Bible now or do my homework? Do I give this homeless wino $5 or give it to a homeless shelter? etc.). For that reason, worrying about theology in general, and other people’s in particular, has been too often the “easy way out” for Christians of all persuasions over the centuries.
This is just my 2 cents — not a reason for you to believe anything but hopefully some insight into the confusing diversity of Christian thought and life around the world, not just on Shorter Avenue.
"The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun."- Thomas Paine
Does anyone know where that stands? Did Brewton-Parker get off probation or are they losing accreditation? If this hasn't been resolved yet, does anyone know how it's looking?
Some of the accreditation issues were financial yet I would think the GBC, with its 3600 churches, should be able to backstop them. They only have Shorter, Brewton-Parker and Truett McConnell that they control.
Thanks for any update someone can provide.
After the court case, then-President Lynn Holmes resigned. He was replaced by David Smith, who carried Brewton-Parker straight into Fundamentalism. Just has been done at Shorter, every moderate professor of religion was removed.
To give you an idea of where Shorter is going, you should know that in 2003, Brewton-Parker brought in David Barton as commencement speaker.
Who is David Barton, you ask? How about a revisionist self-taught historian. This article might help you to understand. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05barton.html
Then we have additional financial problems at B-P. Mike Simoneaux was brought in from Truett McConnell in February of last year. Who is Mike Simoneaux? He was the VP for Advancement Services and served as interim president at Truett before Caner was selected.
The interesting thing about Simoneaux is that he is "on loan" from Truett. Truett is still paying his salary and benefits while he works for Brewton-Parker. Wonder how that's reflected in Truett's bottom line?
And the Georgia Baptist commitment to Brewton-Parker? A million dollars for 2012. That's the same amount that Truett gets.
Perhaps more significantly, how much of Shorter's profit (or loss) comes from these non-traditional offerings vs. their traditional programs in Rome?
It's clear the recent changes are causing considerable turmoil in Shorter's traditional college teaching in Rome -- but are they having much impact on the non-traditional business?
Does Shorter really even care if its adjunct faculty in Atlanta or online are not conservative Christians as long as they're discreet?
What's the quality and rigor of Shorter's online and Atlanta programs versus traditional on-campus programs (both Shorter's and other schools)?
This president and Board of Trustees has obliterated any sort of Christian witness up there. I mean, with everybody signing the statement how can you really know what anyone believes? What a mess they have made. Apparently they like to pretend like its all the faculty rebelling. What I hear is the students are furious that their entire school year has been disrupted. All in the name of some political battle of the Baptists.
Someone report on the students would you? How are their parents responding to the confusion and chaos? The depression and anger? The public wants to know.
Do music, theater and visual art really have NO place in their view of Christian discipleship?
Or am I (hopefully) missing something?
I just can't believe that the GBC sees ALL music, theater and visual art as un-Christian and unworthy of support. Bob Jones University, for instance, has an opera program.
I'm very interested in what Shorter insiders have to say on this (both Dowless critics and Dowless supporters).
My understanding is the fine arts and nursing are where resignations have been the highest.
None of the open positions listed include Nursing or any of the fine arts -- so that implies that there have been many more resignations than just 33.
What happens to students in those programs? Does Shorter intend for them to leave?
You wrote "Who cares anymore?".
Call me naive, but I care. I've got to believe that if they have any sort of Christian education bone in their bodies, Dr. Dowless and the Shorter Trustees must care, too.
You can't tell me that they want to effectively expel kids just because of an interest in the arts? That somehow that's un-Biblical? (Say good-bye to the Psalms, King David's dancing, etc.) That somehow these kids are unworthy?
I know people have very negative views of Dr. Dowless, but I just can't believe that he is that sort of person. Not quite a monster, but a really mean, cold, openly bigoted person.
I just don't believe it -- but I'm trying to find a rational understanding of what's going on.
Also, I care because Shorter is just so important to all of us in this area.
I've been laid off before -- it was hard on me and my colleagues. But this is different -- this is hard on an entire community.
As far as the GBC is concerned, this is not about building up Shorter and it has nothing to do with Christianity. It is all about power and control under the guise of psuedo-Christian principles. They wield the word of God like a sword of Damocles over the heads of the faculty to the "conform or be gone" mentality. They wield the word of God as economic blackmail over the faculty and staff. They current GBC leadership and Shorter say that they are Christian but their actions certainly do not reflect this. They have perverted the word of God and will pay the ultimate penalty for this. This extends to the Shorter Board as well.
What a tragedy.
What a waste.
What an embarrassment to Christianity.
A formerly proud Shorter graduate.
A formerly proud Georgia Baptist.
Jim Morris
jm4919,
Then by your definition your are a fundamentalist.You refuse to believe that it is possible that their is only one school of thought on some issues.I am a fundamentalist on many issues.I hold beliefs that have no room for debate.This world is not made up of gray areas it is black and white. Shorters leaders have the right to this tract and anyone has a right to leave if they feel so.
Which means.. let us try and convince you that we are right and you are wrong.
It is not about "OUR" goodness and outward appearances but about God's goodness, and our failings as humans to ever "be good enough", no matter how hard we try. The Southern Baptist's seem to have forgotten this point. No wonder 'organized' religion gets a bad rap.