Student Senses Anti-Christian Bias at NC State Univ.
by Jim Brown
February 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - A student columnist at North Carolina State University says there's a climate of anti-Christian bigotry on campus.Junior chemistry major Daniel Underwood says all of his science classes teach atheistic assumptions about the origin of life and the universe, but nothing about a divine creator. However, Underwood says that is just one aspect of the pervasive anti-Christian bias on display at NC State. "There's a marginalization of anyone who holds any sort of religious views firmly," says Underwood, who is a born-again Christian.
He recalls an incident last semester in which a professor asked a guest speaker not to mention the name of "Jesus" while addressing his "Social Deviance" class. Professor Robert Stone, the student says, made the request after ex-convict John Kinlaw told the class that his life had dramatically changed after he abandoned a life of crime to follow Jesus Christ.
Underwood, who wrote a column about the incident for the student newspaper, believes that Stone -- like many others on campus -- is uncomfortable with born-again Christians.
"This particular professor had his own animosity toward Christianity in particular," Underwood says, "but I think generally speaking, professors and teaching faculty are much more embracing of any religion other than Christianity -- and particularly, Islam."
In fact, Underwood believes if Kinlaw had said his life changed dramatically because he began praying to Allah, Stone would not have censored him.
In writing the column, the junior says he wanted to warn his fellow students about what is happening on campus. "I really wanted to stress to the students that they should be on guard against this, and try to take notice when their teachers may be doing things similar to what [Professor Stone] did," he says.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.