Ep. 644: Want to Repair a Tear in our Culture: Endow a Journalism School

The uber-rich support the strangest things. Between 2001 and 2004, one of the Home Depot founders, Bernie Marcus, gave $255 million to fund the Georgia Aquarium. Joan Kroc gave $200 million to fund National Public Radio in 2003.

Even in the Christian realm, I sometimes scratch my head. Donors to the He Gets Us campaign have spent an estimated $775 million.(Between 2021–2024: $429.8 million spent by the Signatry/Servant Foundation on He Gets Us, according to IRS disclosures. In 2024, the operation moved to Come Near, a separate nonprofit. Come Near projected another $345 million in expenditures for the period July 2024–June 2026. That puts the documented/projected spending through June 2026 at roughly $775 million. Organizers have previously talked about a goal of spending $1 billion on the campaign.)

It is with this context that I offer a modest proposal. I propose that some wealthy Christians step up and create a fully accredited graduate program in journalism at a top-tier Christian college. So far, no such program exists, and the existence of such a program could make a dramatic difference in the journalism landscape of this country.

Christians have made massive investments in virtually all spheres of public life, but Christian journalism has been virtually ignored by Christian philanthropists. Creating a fully accredited journalism school, from undergraduate through the doctoral level, would be a giant first step toward repairing that long overdue neglect.

And a giant step toward repairing a serious tear in our cultural fabric.

Until next time, may God bless you.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS