Non-Baptist Christian student groups are allowed to officially meet on the campus of Baylor University, the school board recently ruled.
The Baylor Board of Regents revised the university wide organizational religion policy on Friday, welcoming Christian groups in addition to Baptist ones to meet and be chartered at Baylor, according to the school news publication, The Lariat.
In an editorial on Tuesday, The Lariat applauded the "overdue" revision, noting that Methodists, Catholics and Presbyterians among other groups have been treated like "Christian step-children" for too long.
The revision will make the university "more welcoming" of other Christian organizations, Baylor University president John M. Lilley said, as reported by the student publication.
Baylor students had passed a bill early last year in an effort to grant non-Baptist Christian groups the same privileges as Baptist organizations on campus. The old organizational policy allowed only Baptist groups to meet on campus regularly and be chartered, and limited non-Baptist groups to advertising on campus and holding one recruiting event per semester.
"Despite fervent disagreement over infant baptism and transubstantiation, Baptists and Catholics should have equal access to the Baylor Sciences Building," said the editorial in The Lariat.
While some students worried that opening the door to non-Baptist organizations could cause the university to lose its Baptist identity and even head toward secularism, the editorial piece stated, "This tolerance in no way negates our Baptist heritage or lessens the presence of the BSM (Baptist Student Ministries).
"Recognizing the presence of non-Baptist groups on campus does not diminish the Baptist tradition. Instead, it encourages Baptists to deepen their own understanding of what it means to be Baptist."
The Board of Regents affirmed Baptist Student Ministries will remain as the university's foundational religious organization.
"While Baylor's Baptist heritage is integral to the university, we never want our denominational status to alienate Christians of a different stripe," the student publication stated.
Baylor, located in Waco, Texas, is the largest Baptist University in the world with some 14,000 students.
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The ignorance abounds in the many posts that insinuate that a denomoination is "unChristian" because they disallow other faiths to practice their faith on campus. Moreover, to suggest that Jesus was open minded to accept other beliefs, and each denomination has their own belief system, is oblivious to the evidence of the text. Christ did not accept the views of the Sanhedrin in totality. matter of fact, it was their views that moved Him to call them a "pit of vipers" and "children of the Devil". Jewish religion at that time was in many ways like Christianity today, in so far as each had a fervent acceptance of the OT; howevert, it was the differences within each belief system that sifted teh wheat from the chaff.
Moreover, historical evidence in the division of the Western and Eastern Church, the Protestant Reformation, and the Anabaptist movement testifies to how the interpretation of Scripture results in the character and conviction of individuals; however, Postmodernism and the Ecumenical movement decry that all faiths are equal, but this can't be true. Why does anyone believe what they believe? They believe what they believe because they believe that what they believe is true, otherwise there would be no significance in holding to a personal belief in anything. Unfortunately, many denominations within the Christian faith are holding to incorrect beliefs that are paramount within the teachings of Jesus Christ due to a deficient hermeneutic of biblical interpretation.
The responsibility of the believer is to properly teach the Scriptures, but to allow other beliefs that are contradictory to Orthodox Christianity to be accepted and practiced on your campus is foolish and irresponsible.
It was a surprising news that the Baylor Univeristy didn't allow non-Baptist Christian students
to have their christian gathering in the campus. That was like Saudi Arabia's attitude in not
permitting any other faith to have a place of worship in that country. The greatest barrier of
evangelism is the spirit of denominationalism. Jesus didn't start this spirit. Until a Chrisian
can receive a brother of another Christian denomination with an open hand, there is something
radically wrong with our Christian title. I am glad that the Baylor Univeristy found the light at
last.
If they allow students that are not Baptist they should allow them to meet and not discriminate against them. That is unChristian. I'm glad they changed their policies. I know seeing stuff like this has kept me and many Christians out of denominations because they feel like they are better than other Christians. I used to be a part of another denomination. That separatist attitudes is ungodly and causes division within the Body of Christ which God hates.
I think this will help non-Baptists to see all that is good within the Baptist tradition. It is long overdue.