Class on Islam Moved After Christian's Offer to Debate the Subject
by Jim Brown
January 31, 2005
(AgapePress) - Tennessee State University in Nashville has denied Muslims access to a room in which they hoped to hold a free course on Islam. The move came not long after the dean of a Bible college in nearby Cookeville questioned the taxpayer-funded course.Officials at TSU have told the Islamic Center of Nashville they will not be able to use the room on campus, but have not explained why. A week earlier, Kerry Duke, the dean of Tennessee Bible College, sent a letter to TSU president James Hefner proposing that the two schools co-host an open discussion between Duke and a representative from the Muslim community. But Duke says he never heard a response.
"There is a bias [against Christianity] that is very obvious there," Duke says, referring to the Nashville school. "Secondly, there is a lot of misinformation today about the true nature of Islam -- and that misinformation has to do with the lack of knowledge about the teaching of the Koran on [the subject of] violence."
In his letter to Hefner, the Bible college dean essentially asked permission to come to TSU to lecture on the Bible and Christianity. The school's lack of a response, he says, confirms his argument in the letter -- that there is an obvious bias against such matters of faith in higher education today.
"And what I find [to be] ironic is that here is a government-funded school [TSU] which allows a whole course on Islam to be taught on its campus, which was at least partially paid for with taxpayer money -- and yet I can't go into the same university," says Duke.
The free course on Islam is now being held at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. Duke says the Islamic Center of Nashville has so far ignored his invitation to a debate and public discussion on the issue of Islam versus the Bible.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
