College Politics

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     A great deal of the present trouble in "The Church of Christ" stems from such theological seminaries as David Lipscomb College, Harding College, Freed-Hardeman College, and other parochial schools of the same ilk. All of these give special attention to the production of a special professional clergy in their "ministerial courses." Students are given a thorough brain washing and forced to conform to the party line. They are grounded in Church-of-Christ-ism until it is impossible for them to detect the difference between the traditions of the elders and the law of God. An independent thinker is soon tossed out, even though he has paid his tuition. The Procrustean policy permits no deviation from the prescribed orthodoxy.

     For several years George Pepperdine College has been accepted as a kind of unwelcome scholastic half brother. Hugh Tiner, the president, and E. V. Pullias, the dean, did not play the game according to "Church of Christ" rules. Political pressure was brought to bear on the trustees and these two non-conformists were "shipped to Siberia" and their positions handed to Norvel Young and J. P. Sanders who will parrot the party line. In the November 7 issue of Christian Worker, it is said, "Pepperdine College has had a new birth; a new beginning." The new managers are said to be "already well on their way to making Pepperdine College truly a 'Christian College.'" In modern "Church of Christ" vernacular that means that Young and

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Sanders will not antagonize the oil barons from Texas, and the financial pipeliners will once again funnel big endowments to the school.

     Florida Christian College has been posing secretly as the only "sound" school for several years. When it was about to pop, Jim Cope was rushed in to plug the hole in the dike. He cleverly created the impression that "our sister schools" were not all acting as they should and were flirting with modernism. Parents were influenced to by-pass the "Christian atmosphere" of other religio-secular plants and send their children to Tampa. It was guaranteed that they would be moulded and shaped and brain washed until they would not think for themselves.

     Bro. Cope has been treading water ever since. He was in too deeply to wade, and he was afraid to swim. Now he has real trouble on his hands. The thing he feared has come to pass. The chickens have come home to roost! He has a prominent teacher on the faculty who is starting to cut across the creedalism of the school. If he fires the teacher he will fan the flames; if he keeps him the word will get around that the school is no longer "sound." Keep your eye toward Tampa. There is an eruption scheduled. There is some indication that the other "Christian Colleges" which have suffered from Cope's insinuations are not mourning like they ought. The truth is that "The Church of Christ" in the south is in a real mess, and it is caused by its human organizations which are leeches and parasites!