| Lutheran Creationist Colleges by Warren Krug (January-February, 2004) |
The Institute of Creation Research located in El Cajo, California recently did a survey of 649 Protestant
Christian colleges and seminaries in the U. S. The objective of the survey was to determine how many of the
colleges support literal Biblical creationism (i.e. young-earth creationism), either exclusively or almost so.
Unfortunately 425 colleges did not respond to the survey, despite several follow-up letters and phone calls. ICR
did not wish to speculate on the reasons for this lack of response.
Of the 224 institutions which did answer the survey, only 28 favored evolution and 9 were non-committal.
ICR says its listing is based solely on the response to the survey questionnaire. (ICR did not provide a sample of
the survey questions.) There were no campus visits or other efforts at validation.
ICR also said they were surprised by some of the schools which claimed to be creationist because some of the
faculty members are known to be vocal anti-creationists.
This leads us to wonder whether some schools were playing fast and loose with terms such as “creationist”,
“young-earth”, and similar adjectives. Even evolutionists sometimes talk about creation, although they, of
course, don’t mean Genesis.
Following is a list of Lutheran universities, colleges, and seminaries (as best we could determine) which were on
ICR’s list. For a complete list of the creationist colleges, please see the November, 2003 issue of Acts and Facts
(Impact #365).
WELS
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
Martin Luther College
Wisconsin Lutheran College
ELS
Bethany Lutheran College
(Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary was not listed, but we trust it was included under BLC)
LCMS
Concordia College, Selma, AL
Concordia U., River Forest, IL
Concordia U., Austin, TX
Concordia U., Irvine, CA
Concordia U., Mequon, WI
Concordia U., Ann Arbor, MI
Concordia Theological Seminary,
Fort Wayne, IN
ELCA
(None listed)
Others
Association Free Lutheran Theological Sem., Plymouth,
MN
Faith Evangelical Lutheran Sem., Tacoma, WA
It was somewhat surprising to see as many LCMS institutions listed as there were (not all were). In spite of that
synod’s official biblical, creationist doctrinal statements, an ICR survey several years ago suggested that many
LCMS secondary schools were teaching evolution as fact.
Remember, a school’s absence from the list does not absolutely mean it rejects the book of Genesis as a true
historical account nor does its inclusion absolutely guarantee it is 100% faithful to Genesis.
In conclusion, ICR noted an apparent increase in Biblical creationism on religious college campuses in recent
years. LSI
Christian colleges and seminaries in the U. S. The objective of the survey was to determine how many of the
colleges support literal Biblical creationism (i.e. young-earth creationism), either exclusively or almost so.
Unfortunately 425 colleges did not respond to the survey, despite several follow-up letters and phone calls. ICR
did not wish to speculate on the reasons for this lack of response.
Of the 224 institutions which did answer the survey, only 28 favored evolution and 9 were non-committal.
ICR says its listing is based solely on the response to the survey questionnaire. (ICR did not provide a sample of
the survey questions.) There were no campus visits or other efforts at validation.
ICR also said they were surprised by some of the schools which claimed to be creationist because some of the
faculty members are known to be vocal anti-creationists.
This leads us to wonder whether some schools were playing fast and loose with terms such as “creationist”,
“young-earth”, and similar adjectives. Even evolutionists sometimes talk about creation, although they, of
course, don’t mean Genesis.
Following is a list of Lutheran universities, colleges, and seminaries (as best we could determine) which were on
ICR’s list. For a complete list of the creationist colleges, please see the November, 2003 issue of Acts and Facts
(Impact #365).
WELS
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary
Martin Luther College
Wisconsin Lutheran College
ELS
Bethany Lutheran College
(Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary was not listed, but we trust it was included under BLC)
LCMS
Concordia College, Selma, AL
Concordia U., River Forest, IL
Concordia U., Austin, TX
Concordia U., Irvine, CA
Concordia U., Mequon, WI
Concordia U., Ann Arbor, MI
Concordia Theological Seminary,
Fort Wayne, IN
ELCA
(None listed)
Others
Association Free Lutheran Theological Sem., Plymouth,
MN
Faith Evangelical Lutheran Sem., Tacoma, WA
It was somewhat surprising to see as many LCMS institutions listed as there were (not all were). In spite of that
synod’s official biblical, creationist doctrinal statements, an ICR survey several years ago suggested that many
LCMS secondary schools were teaching evolution as fact.
Remember, a school’s absence from the list does not absolutely mean it rejects the book of Genesis as a true
historical account nor does its inclusion absolutely guarantee it is 100% faithful to Genesis.
In conclusion, ICR noted an apparent increase in Biblical creationism on religious college campuses in recent
years. LSI
WLS
MLC
WLC