<p>I want to go to a christian college but one that is less strict and less centered around christian beliefs. I really want to go to a conservative college and am christian. I just feel like my relationship with God is really personal and i dont really like sharing a lot about my faith. Also, I don’t like people judging me and some christian people in the past have started to annoy me because they are so judgmental. I’m considering applying to Pepperdine, Point Loma, Biola, Westmont, and APU. Would any of these fit me well?</p>
<p>Maybe a college that has a Christian foundation, but is not considered a typical Christan college now would be best for you. That way the way of life would still be there, but you could keep your religious privacy, and have the chance to interact and coexist with people of other faiths. That would probably be a less judgmental environment, and would be less strict.</p>
<p>Furman in south carolina may be a good choice. It was founded as a baptist college but it is much more intellectual in their views now. They are still somehwat conservative but much more liberal than most of the christian colleges.</p>
<p>The Methodist Church operates about half a thousand schools that fit the description of having a religious foundation but not being as strict. High Point University comes to mind as being particularly good.</p>
<p>OP, </p>
<p>Out of all the schools you listed, Biola is the most conservative but probably the most aligned with orthodox Christianity. I think all the others on the list are more liberal and will have a lot of non-Christians.</p>
<p>I also thought of Furman, but it’s probably not where you’re looking since you have California schools only on your list.</p>
<p>Pepperdine is a good choice on your list. You could also try one of the Jesuit schools.</p>
<p>I’d be a bit cautious about suggesting that Methodist (or Presbyterian or Lutheran or …) are viable candidates for what it seems you’re seeking. Many, possibly most, maybe the vast majority of these have “evolved” into being as secular as any public or non-sectarian college could be. Beyond maybe a token chapel and chaplain, you’d have little or no clue Jesus was once at the heart of these institutions. </p>
<p>As for Furman? One of the most gorgeous campuses you’ll ever see. For most who have no background and thus proclivity for seeking their Lord there, you’d not have a single clue about faith being of any consequences institutionally. Religiosity, most certainly. And not demeaning Furman or Albion or Allegheny or Tulsa or Rhodes or … any other institution. They are simply hell-bent toward becoming precisely like Harvard. btw, even Harvard, Yale, Princeton and all the other Ivies were once Christ-centered institutions. Take a look there and you’ll see what the culture of campuses and its too-often totally progressive and faithless professoriate is taking most colleges. </p>
<p>The Biola option seems much more viable for a genuine nurture and faithful underpinning without being dogmatic, demanding, or dictatorial in its faith component.</p>
<p>I would also suggest Pepperdine and USD. Although USD was established by Jesuits, there’s no overt pressure to go to services.</p>
<p>I would describe USD as a liberal, secular college with Catholic components. I am there weekly and am pretty familiar with it. It’s definitely not conservative. It has a gorgeous campus and I’m sure there are some conservative students. The school itself, though, is most definitely not conservative.</p>
<p>I guess I’m confused about your desire to go to a Christian college. If you don’t necessarily want to talk about your faith, and you have some liberal beliefs, why don’t you just look at colleges in general?</p>
<p>You even say you want a school less centered around Christian beliefs. At most schools, you’ll still be able to find a great group like Disciple makers or InterVarsity or something to be with other Christians.</p>
<p>I am assuming by ‘conservative’ and ‘Christian’ college, you mean one where the school is closely affiliated with a specific religion (denomination) and many of the students are observant. You also want to be in a non-judgemental environment where the relationship to God is personal. I’m not a Quaker but I have a few Quaker friends (hmm, that’s a pun) and you might consider some colleges associated with the Quakers. By dogma (?) they are fairly non-judgemental, tend to encourage a personal relationship with God and actually are pretty nice people. You’d have to see which ones are still strongly associated with religious practice vs those that aren’t. I’m not sure, but I think Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, Whittier were founded by Quakers but are fairly non-denominational, while Earlham, Maone, Wilmington, William Penn, Barclay, George Fox, Guilford and Friends University are more observant.</p>
<p>Typing error. That should be Malone University, not Maone. And I’m actually not sure it is Quaker. It was founded by a group called Evangelical Friends, but its doctrine does not look like that of Friends in the Quaker sense. Confusing.</p>
<p>Quaker friends … a pun? 
Didn’t you mean “repundant?” :eek:</p>
<p>Might wanna review that chapter in your grammar book before the final. </p>
<p>Malone (now) University was founded by Friends, but it is no longer a Quaker-based college, now a Christian institution. A fine place, too. Cedarville in Ohio, is pretty evangelical. Messiah in PA. Covenant in GA. One that I’d look at altho it is a bit different but indirectly a most Christian insitution by its calling, Hillsdale. It focuses to ensure that all students have a solid foundation in the Constitution, which is at its intended origins and essence, a doctrine intended to move faith into action on a national scale. </p>
<p>The connections between God and our nation are implicit in that document. But it is important to realize that our Founding Fathers had NO OTHER POSSIBILITY but a manifesting Creator. And as we have learned, the concepts, values, characteristics, and activities of a democracy cannot and never have existed in any non-Christian nation. Today’s culture hates and debates that reality, but it is that. And so it is that Christianity is a principle undercurrent at Hillsdale but it is subtle, not dogmatic, implicit rather than explicit in the activities of the College. For you particularly, as I read your interests, it might well be worth your look. It is a national liberal arts college attracting BIG TIME engagement from free-market advocates around the world. </p>
<p>It first came to “fame” by announcing that it was rejecting ALL Federal aid that they would not be compromised by such silliness as Affirmative Action, “diversity” mandates, Equal Opportunity hog-ties, etc.</p>
<p>You will not be comfortable at Malone. The kids who attend from my daughters’ high school are hardcore evangelicals. It is definitely not considered an intellectual school and I would not recommend it. Malone has grown more evangelical in the last few years btw.</p>
<p>This is a not uncommon result or backlash to what many traditionalists, Christians, and Constitutional conservatives see as a deteriorating culture precipitated by liberal, left-wing, democrat, and now “progressive” political ideology. </p>
<p>As a consequence of that there is a reaction on many campuses (especially as college grads discover there is no work beyond mundane hourly jobs, and consequently no career for a great many who have invested huge sums of time and money, and increasingly see this as a problem precipitated by both political parties, and made worse by the massive regulation that squelches a free market and job creation. For many, the lone path is to become a civil servant in an increasingly complex government bureaucracy. ) moving many campuses and students to become more conservative and traditional, at least among many where there has remained some remnant of their Christian foundation and history.</p>
<p>The few kids I know who went to Biola were very, very happy there, for a variety of solid reasons. It’s not the world-isolated little bible school it once was.
Imo, Quaker colleges are not for a kid who wants to go to a Christian and conservative school. </p>
<p>And, WP, not to start an argument, but the Christian underpinnings in US history need a closer look. Religion among the founding fathers was not the Pilgrim sort where it was “our way” or eternal loss.</p>
<p>I don’t believe I either said or suggested this. If you want to write your own history, have at it. You’ve inkled at what your opinion is, and you’re welcome to that.</p>
<p>Hope College would seem to fit the bill. One of the CTCL schools. My D enjoyed her time there and had many opportunities. When she started she had a criteria similar to yours.</p>
<p>Take a look at some Catholic colleges. They are fairly conservative and most have protestant student groups or connections to conservative and liberal protestant congregations.</p>
<p>My kid (daughter of two pastors) attends a Catholic school and absolutely loves it. She disagrees with much of their theology but is great friends with the campus priest, and helped him organize a Christ-centered area of a dorm which is an entire floor of all “flavors” of Christianity. Instead of the conservative kids’ having their faith weakened as many conservatives fear, it is strengthened through discussions with folk from other viewpoints (helping them affirm what they believe -just like muscles are only strengthened through challenge), and when they are working side by side on mission projects, how each feels about the virgin birth doesn’t really matter all that much.</p>
<p>Reopening this discussion: </p>
<p>Which college is strong in “Christian” liberal arts? </p>
<p>I myself am Roman Catholic, but I have attended Baptist, Methodist and United Churches without ever feeling truly out of place, because the center of it all is always Jesus.
I want to attend a college that is somewhat Christian, but not extremely dogmatic.
For example, I want the evolutionary theory to be examined critically, rather than just put down with a “it’s not in the bible”. On the other hand, I want to be able to raise my arm in biology class and ask whether there is real proof for it without receiving an “read Darwin’s book, it’s 100% true” answer. As far as the student body goes, I myself do not party and I follow what I feel is a Christian way of life. However, it was never taught to me, or dictated as the ultimum, I just gradually explored my faith and became a more genuine Christian as I got older. I would like the other students to be rather mature and independent, each of them having built their relationship to God on their own terms and using their own heart and reason.
I tend to question everything, and I want a college where nothing is just given and stated as “truth” and people abstain from ever questioning it, if that makes sense :)</p>
<p>So is there any college that comes to your mind that has a liberal, Christian approach to teaching and learning, giving people freedom to think, which in turn leads to “Christian spirit” because people are sincere and genuine about their faith?</p>