Neocon Madrassa

As a former college instructor (in history and literature), i have always been interested in how students develop an intellectual worldview and how a college curriculum can help to shape it.  Years ago I was fascinated by Wolfgang Leonhard's book Die Revolution entläßt ihre Kinder (English: Child of the Revolution) where he described how as a bright boy in Moscow he was picked to attend a special school for future communist leaders and functionaries.  At this Stalinist Madrassa, Leonhard received a rigorous training in many subjects - but all with a Marxist-Leninist slant.  No deviation from the party line was tolerated.  After the war, Leonhard was sent to East Germany along with Walter Ulbricht to establish a communist dictatorship. In 1949 he turned his back on Stalinism for good and defected to the west. 

I thouht about Leonhard and his experiences as I listened to this National Public Radio program which features a conversation with three students from Patrick Henry College .  Patrick Henry College is a small school in Virginia where a reactionary form of Christianity is taught along with neoconservative political theory. The students have all been home-schooled by fundamentalist Christian parents, which means they have never been in a classroom with African-Americans, Muslims or gays and lesbians. At home they were taught that God has a special covenant with America, Europe is a cess-pool of atheism and relativism, and the United Nations is doing Satan's work.  These students don't have to worry that they will encounter Jews or Muslims at Patrick Henry College, for in its Statement of Faith the college maintains that these non-Christians "shall be tormented in Hell for eternity." They also will never see an openly gay person, even on television, since these young adults need their parents' permission to watch popular television programs like Will and Grace that feature gay characters.  Their internet access is filtered of any "un-Godly" content.

The College's Statement of Biblical Worldview is a remarkable document, to which all students and faculty must subscribe. Among other things they profess their allegiance to the following principles:

1. The Bible is sole repository of Truth.
2. The earth was created in six 24-hour days (must make for interesting 'science' classes.
3. Men are the "head of their wives".
4. Blind obediance to the "Government" is required - dissent is un-Christian
5. It is duty to overthrow "un-Godly" governments (through whatever "legitimate" means).

It is chilling to listen to these students; all of them are seniors who have been subjected to four years of the Patrick Henry curriculum. It would not be so bad if these young men and women were going to go on and teach Bible school at some backwater town in Alabama, but graduates of this college are highly sought-after by neo-conservative think tanks, such as the American Enterprise Institute.  Or they help manage the political campaigns for Republican candidates.  Ignorant of foreign cultures, trapped in a narrow and hateful ideology, these students are the architects of America's future wars. 

neoconservatism christo-fascism

Comments

[Tim]

Ignorance is bliss, and PHC is working to ensure a blissful future.

[Takes12Know]

Wish you wouldn't use "madrassa" that way. It just means "school" in Arabic.

[starskeptic]

"It just means "school" in Arabic."
-- tell that to the right-wing loons who need to hear it; it was used purposely to reflect back at them.

[Andrew]

I don't see what the controversy is. These students are taught to live by their religion in accordance with the principles they profess. If we were talking about a muslim school, this article wouldn't even have been written. Instead,we blasting a private school with apparently excellent conservative education that teaches students to live by the principles of their religion.

[David]

These students are not looking to retreat to monastery or bible school to practice their faith. Rather, their mission is impose their Taliban-like beliefs on the entire nation.

[Kaitlin]

This school is less than an hour outside DC so I know for a fact that the students come into contact with all sorts of people of all religions, skin colors, backgrounds, etc.
Also, while a majority were homeschooled, they most certainly werent "all homeschooled by fundamentalist christian parents". I've met many of the students and honestly they are more intelligent and varied than any of the kids I went to college with. This article is ridiculous and embarrassing that it is written by a former college instructor. The facts are all so wrong. So silly.
These students are graduating and getting jobs all over DC and the united states with their top tier education. Don't you think they would be jobless or only working in extremist organizations if any of this is true?

[David]

"Top-tier education" - what a joke!

I'd love to see the science curriculum.

[John Bush]

PHC scores unbelievably high relative to other colleges in math, english, and science.

I'm a homeschooler, and I can tell you with some degree of credibility that the things you caricture homeschooling with are not true. I have of course come into contact with Muslims, gays, Atheists, African-Americans and so on. Heck, I LIVE in Africa.

I wouldn't say that the UN is doing Satan's work. I don't believe God has a special contract with America.

You also have your facts completely wrong about their statements of belief. First, students don't have to agree with this statement, just faculty and other college employees. Second, they don't mandate a young-earth, just that you don't believe in theistic evolution. Finally, nobody would say that dissent is un-Christian, least of all them.

And I want to go to this college. Many of my friends go there. Stop resorting to ad-hominems, and actually explain why their beliefs are wrong. If they are indeed inaccurate, that shouldn't be difficult.

[David]

John -

The community of scientists refutes the beliefs of PHC. It is an irrefutable fact that the age of the earth is 4.56 billion years.

Good luck in making your college choices. I hope you will also consider applying to a few accredited liberal arts colleges - of which there are many excellent ones here.

[Kyle]

Wow, that wasn't a biased article, at all. Start reporting and stop using quotation marks so frequently.

Christians believe that those who don't believe in Christ will be punished eternally. You believe that when you die, you will rot and be eaten by worms. There's a difference in opinion.

I have been homeschooled my entire life. One of my best friends is black, I commonly come in contact with gays, lesbians, muslims, hindus etc. It's not like homeschoolers live in log cabins in the middle of the woods somewhere without any contact with the outside world. From a reporting stand-point, this article is laughable and highly biased.

Also, @David. The Taliban shoots innocent girls for speaking out for female education. Homeschoolers don't. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/asia/teen-school-activist-malala-yousafzai-survives-hit-by-pakistani-taliban.html?pagewanted=all

[David]

"Christians believe that those who don't believe in Christ will be punished eternally."

I am Anglican, I embrace science, reject bigotry, and am repulsed by the belief system put forward by PHC.

I am also an American who believes in the separation of church and state. Evidently - as we saw on Nov. 6 - most Americans share my perspective.

And no, we Anglicans do not believe that non-Christians will be punished eternally.

[Sarah]

David, you didn't address Kyle's point that your comparison of PHC to the Taliban was ludicrous.

I was not homeschooled. I attended an elementary public school, a private Christian junior high and high school, and two different public community colleges. None of those education arenas gave me opportunity to meet a Muslim, or a homosexual, and honestly, very very few black people. (I lived in a neighborhood that was very white.)

However, my life outside the education buildings gave me ample opportunity to meet all kinds of people including the kind on your list.

Frankly, I thought my own education was extremely limited, which is why I chose to homeschool my own children, who have lived with multiple Asians for short periods of time, Europeans for longer periods of time, and meet people of all backgrounds, religion, and race whenever the opportunity arises. They haven't had much chance to meet homosexuals, but I'm sure they will, and when they do, they will treat them as they have been taught to treat all people, with respect and dignity, and with the understanding that we have different opinions on the teachings of the Bible.

This, sir, is not how the Taliban treat people that disagree with them.

Your article is a joke and a prime example of an agenda much more dangerous than that of PHC.

I have a very good friend who is an extreme left winged liberal and agnostic. She once stood on the UC Davis campus with fellow students, her friends, and listened as they bad mouthed Christians such as you have in this article. She finally asked the group, "How many of you have actually met any right winged conservative Christians?" Silence. "Well, I have, and they are nothing like the biased version of what you are talking about."

(And just to clarify, I have no affiliation with PHC. My college aged children made a purposeful choice not to attend there.)

[David]

PHC disqualifies itself as an institution of higher learning with its statement on the college's Web site:

"Any biology, Bible, or other courses at PHC dealing with creation will teach creation from the understanding of Scripture that God's creative work, as described in Genesis 1:1-31, was completed in six twenty-four hour days. All faculty for such courses will be chosen on the basis of their personal adherence to this view."

In other words, the faculty must pledge allegiance to ignorance and superstition.

And, like the Taliban, PHC seeks to create a theocracy that would force ignorance and superstition on the entire nation.

[Sarah]

And you think the secular higher learning institutions present a balanced view in their faculty??

Your bias is embarrassing.

Your link for "theocracy" is missing.

[James]

This article tells me nothing about PHC or why I should be afraid of it... On the one hand you reference that "Blind obediance to the 'Government' is required - dissent is un-Christian." and then reference that "It is duty to overthrow 'un-Godly' governments."

While I'm not sure if "Obediance" is a German variant on the English "Obedience," these two sentences still don't add up. Should I be afraid that they are counter-revolutionaries or revolutionaries?

After reading the Statement of Biblical Worldview, it sure seems to me like they want to strike a balance between obedience and occasional civil disobedience (much like Martin Luther King Junior).

Thanks for your time!

[David]

@Sarah,

Yes, I am biased towards science.

There can be on "balance" between science and "creationism" - which is a pseudo-science (also as determined by the US courts of justice).

[kelly]

So David, are you actually suggesting that the "US courts of justice" somehow have authority to validate something as scientific? Just how would they do that? By stating their opinion? So, what if they opined that evolution never occured. Would that make it true? Would you suddenly embrace this new truth?

[kelly]

David, sorry, but "community of scientists" do not agree with you. Aparently you are unaware of the thousands of PhD scholars, researchers and published peer-review scientists that are creationists, and many more who secretly believe (but for the sake of their careers, don't make that information known to their universities.) I personally know some and have heard others speak (and have read their books) including geneticist Dr. John Sanford (Cornell University professor who invented the "gene gun",) PhD geologist Steve Austin, and Entomoligist and researcher Jim Bethke of UC Riverside just to name a few.

[David]

@Kelly - thanks for pointing out that there are charlatans in every field - even in the community of scientists.

99.9% of scientists doing serious research in geology, evolutionary biology, geophysics, etc. reject creationism as a pseudo-science. Are you saying they are all wrong?

Many of the "scientists" promoting creationism have degrees in other fields: psychology, engineering, dentistry, etc.

I urge you to study the ruling on Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District regarding the teaching of "Intelligent Design." It makes for interesting reading!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District