CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ACCREDITATION?

scpUncategorized1 Comment

Accreditation: A Skeptic’s Favorite Attack On Christian College Grads

Posted: June 11, 2017 in AccreditationIFB

Dr. James A., PhD.

I am a graduate of Calvary Christian College and Seminary (“CCCS”), a school started by Jack Van Impe and Michael Johnston. I have an EARNED PhD, preceded by a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in theology. I also have an earned degree from law school which help start my career as a paralegal and professional investigator.  I have been an avid reader all of my life so much of what I have learned I would have learned in spite of my education in Bible college. Unfortunately, in a day where sophistry is more important than common sense, you almost have to have some kind of degree for people to take you seriously about anything. The same books you use as a college textbook are often available at a local library.
However, CCCS is not an “accredited” Christian college, and this seems to be a “problem” for many of whom I debate. “Problem” I say, because a school being either Christian or unaccredited is used by my skeptic foes as an ad hominemmeans to discredit my arguments. The tactic of attacking a person’s arguments based on their education goes all the way back to Jesus’ day when the enemies of Christ attempted to discredit His teaching because He didn’t graduate from a prestigious state-owned college (John 7:15). The same crowd also used this argument to discredit Christ’s disciples. (Acts 4:13). In fact, I have heard more objections to my PhD by atheists, skeptics, agnostics and liberals than objections to my actual arguments on any given topic. Ironically, most of the objectors are anonymous who themselves have no formal education. Moreover, if only the ‘educated’ can properly understand the content of a specialty, then nobody else would be able to comprehend someone like Dawkins unless they have an equal education, which begs the question as to why any atheist would attempt to use his arguments against a theist/creationist given that he must admit to his own lack of academic bereftment.
The objection always boils down to whether or not a person received their degree from an “accredited” school, or that my education is not valid because it was derived from a Christian college. Not only is this NOT a valid objection, it commits the genetic fallacy (attempting to discredit an argument solely on the grounds its source). If my degree was NOT valid, what would that have to do with the truth value of arguing that, for example, whatever begins to exist has a cause? Furthermore, the argument works both ways. The atheists I debate with engage in a special pleading fallacy by ignoring this fact. For example. The modern-day atheist champion, Richard Dawkins, does not have a degree in biology, yet his followers accept his views as a biologist as irrefutable proof that evolution is true. If atheists were consistent, they would admit that Dawkins’ opinions on biology as expert testimony would commit the fallacy of argumentum ad vericundiam (improper authority). Moreover, Dawkins also does not have a degree that majors in philosophy, and therefore would not be qualified to give an expert opinion as to why an evolutionary scientist should be honest about their findings-a philosophical matter, not a scientific one. (For more on demonstrating that evolution is far more a priori philosophical nonsense than it is science, see Phillip Johnson’s, Reason In the Balance)
Accreditation is only a recent development in our education system (1950s). Thus, if atheists were fair and consistent, they would ignore Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre, Hume, Russell, and a handful of other atheists, agnostics, and skeptics of whom all modern arguments for atheism have their nexus of whom never held “accredited” degrees. Furthermore, most of the colleges they graduated from were at the time Christian universities (Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Westminster, etc…). So if lack of accreditation and graduating from a Christian college discredits a person’s education, then all of atheism’s founding fathers should be discarded a priori before any debate relying on their premises can begin.
Accreditation is normally governed by statute. In other words, a board of people decide on what is appropriate to teach at a college, and how it should be taught, and the college receiving accreditation must comply with their regulations. Ironically, the atheist doesn’t seem to object at this point that the state dictating what any Christian college should teach in order to obtain accreditation would be a violation of the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ doctrine. The atheist is completely comfortable with maintaining this double standard, e.g., Christianity should not be supported or endorsed by government, but the government must put its stamp of approval on your Christian education or it’s not a valid degree. Of course, we know that the real motive behind the atheist arguments here is to actually get rid of theism altogether, so being exposed for a little hypocrisy is a small price to pay in achieving the greater good of the fight to completely privatize Christianity.
If accreditation was required to make all degrees valid, then no Christian university would be safe so long as the board responsible for issuing accreditation can be manipulated by personal bias against creationism, theology, Christian ethics, and the Bible. In fact, my position is that accreditation is a tool to do just that (after having read the Communist Manifesto, Humanist Manifesto, and Rules For Radicals): keep ‘religion’ out of the public school system, and indoctrinate our next generations with Marxism, marriage ‘equality’, moral relativism, and a disdain for the theistic foundations on which our country was built*. Today’s college students are often encouraged to engage in riots and protests, and even given college credit for it. They are offended by the slightest hint of disagreement that doesn’t kowtow with their violent relativism. One college professor was recently seen at a rally for President Trump hitting a Trump supporter over the head with a bike lock.
Sorry, but I’ll take my ‘non-accredited’ degree over the safety-pin standards of accredited colleges any day. Calvary Christian College and Seminary has a GRUELING work schedule. It is no diploma mill. You won’t pay for your course, and get a degree in the mail. YOU HAVE TO EARN IT. In fact, I did more writing and read more books to earn my degree at CCCS then I ever did in public school, or even law school (except for the case-law readings). A Christian college should not be subjected to state ‘accreditation’, and no Christian president of a Christian college should ever subject his college to one. It is an utterly silly argument to subject a person’s desire to be educated according to his/her beliefs to a system that dismisses those beliefs outright, and then attack that person’s arguments or opinions based on such faulty presuppositions about education.

One Comment on “CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ACCREDITATION?”

  1. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Let the dogs "lick our sores," but we are commanded NOT to be "conformed to this world," but rather to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds." I choose to have the mind of Christ rather than the mindset of the godless American Education (Desecration) Society.

    Amen to everything this dear brother said!

    Mark W. Rossi, Pastor

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.