University of California Says No to Christian Textbooks
The University of California system has been taking a look at the text books Christian schools are using and not accepting high school curricula based on ones it deems objectionable, now it is before the courts to see if it a case of religious discrimination.
The Bob Jones physics text, for example, teaches that “the only sure truths are found in God’s Word, which is settled forever in heaven. … The Bible, written by an omniscient God, can never be proved wrong.”
The higher education establishment seems to be firmly in UC’s corner.
Barmak Nassirian, spokesman for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said universities must defer to academics to define the essence of their disciplines, not only in biology, chemistry and physics but also in the humanities and social sciences.
“You simply can’t bring a bundle of your particular views” to the university and demand that it “manufacture a degree,” he said. “We wouldn’t do this in engineering” if someone refused to concede, for example, the theory of gravity.
Not that Christian schools are doing this (there is some criticism of non-science texts, and their lack of content and perspective)… they simply could. Would they do this for students who went through a Muslim education abroad and then passed toefl?
For my two cents: Either the article presents this slightly skewed or something is fundamentally unsound with UC’s approach. I agree that the University should be able to expect a certain level of understanding when it comes to their incoming undergraduates, but I do not think that they are approaching this in the right way. If a textbook has factual errors that violate generally accepted standards in the academic community then by all means allow for students to demonstrate an understanding of these subjects that meets your requirements (whether God exists shouldn’t be used as such a determiner.) However, to blanket deny courses based up religious content and not scientific merit walks you to the dangerous precipice religious rights.