Christian College Challenge

Plus, mifepristone, attitudes toward abortion, and Colorado Springs departures

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.

Christian Colleges Face Federal Challenge. Emily Belz is reporting for Christianity Today that a new Department of Education regulation “could crater” the programs of Christian colleges. Belz writes, “The regulation would label a bachelor’s or master’s program a “failure” if its graduates do not earn more than their peers without the degree. Students in these ‘failing’ programs would be ineligible for federal financial aid.” This regulation might be understandable if the program compares engineering or mathematics or accounting degrees. But religious studies students are not going into these fields for the money, and to punish these students for their commitment to a ministry career is misguided. The Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities and the Association for Biblical Higher Education are fighting the new rules.

Mifepristone Rising. On May 4, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the abortion inducing drug mifepristone — used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions — can continue to be prescribed via telehealth, dispensed at retail pharmacies, and delivered to patients in the mail. This is a huge setback for the pro-life cause. The Dispatch has provided a helpful “explainer” of what is going on now, especially at the states. Bottom line: 13 states ban abortion entirely, but with telemedicine, abortions continue in those states. To see the status in all 50 states, click here.

Attitudes Toward Abortion. Ryan Burge injects some data into the conversation. He has some graphs showing that support for abortion has gone up over the past 50 years, even among evangelicals. In some cases, support has gone up significantly. But that rise masks an important fact. From about 1997 until about 2007, support for abortion went down. Burge does not track the number of actual abortions, but they went down, too. So, what happened in 2007? The iPhone. Facebook. Twitter. Correlation does not mean causality. But lots of social theorists, from Jean Twenge to Jonathan Haidt, have suggested that around 2007 is when we stopped talking to each other, and we retreated into our digital foxholes and started lobbing mortars at those in other foxholes. We used to persuade in the public square. Now, we pummel. The public square has become the scene of a cage fight. Whatever you think of my theory, I do suggest you check out Ryan Burge’s data, which you can find here.

Losing Its Luster. Colorado Springs has long been the mecca for Christian ministries, but in recent years there are signs the city is losing its appeal. The latest sign is the announcement that the pro-life organization Save The Storks is moving from The Springs to Dallas. The organization said in a statement the move was “strategic,” to “centralize operations and expand support for women nationwide.” In 2020, the Christian and Missionary Alliance national headquarters left Colorado Springs and moved to Columbus, Ohio, to be nearer the majority of its churches. Colorado Springs is still home to Focus on the Family, Compassion International, The Navigators, Young Life, and other major ministries, but the city does not have a major airport, and — with traffic — downtown Colorado Springs can be two hours from the Denver airport.

MinistryWatch Updates. I was recently on Christianity Today’s podcast The Bulletin. It was my second appearance in as many months. If you do not subscribe to The Bulletin, you can listen here. I also wanted to let you know that MinistryWatch has won recognition for our work from the Evangelical Press Association. Tony Mator, Kim Roberts, and I won awards at the annual meeting in Nashville. I also wanted to mention that we may need to rename the MinistryWatch 1000 database. As of this week, we now have 1,500 ministries in the database, representing more than $55 billion in annual revenue. Thanks to Kim Roberts, Rod Pitzer, Rob Martin, Stephen duBarry for their contributions to growing our database.

Readers in Dallas, Colorado Springs, and Denver. I will also be in Dallas next week, and I will be holding a lunch for readers. I will be in Knoxville later in May. I will be speaking at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs in June, so I will be doing reader lunches in Denver and Colorado Springs during that trip. Let me know if you would like to join us. My email is [email protected].