A Response to Ken Ham’s article

http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2010/03/15/you-wont-believe-what-came-out-of-calvin-college-last-week/

Ken Ham is one of the founders of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum. Ken Ham is an out spoken scientist that supports Creationist views. “In the beginning God created to heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Ken Ham recently wrote an article in response to “State of the Nation 2” by a Calvin College religion professor. The article “State of the Nation 2” stated that “Scripture is not inerrant and there are mistakes in the Bible.” Calvin College is known for being a Christian College, but based on the fact that the religion professor claims that there are mistakes in the Bible, it is not hard to imagine how the spiritual life on campus supports this view. When I think of a Christian College I think of a college that practices the faith that God instructs us to live out in His word that He gave us, The Bible. Not everyone on a Christian campus will follow what God instructs us to do, but if a religion professor doesn’t defend Biblical truth then this makes me question the sincerity of faith in God at the college. If a religion professor who doesn’t support the foundation for the college and can’t agree with what the Bible says then what is he teaching his students? When a Calvin College student confronted Ken Ham, through a letter in response to the article that Ken wrote reflecting on what the religion professor had said, the student defended his education and the beliefs at Calvin College through a very sarcastic, disrespectful manner. This disrespectful manner in which the student defended Calvin College’s spiritual and academic excellent campus simply affirms Ken Ham’s negative view on the lack of spiritual commitment at Calvin College. This along with the skeptical view of the Christian faith, that the religion professor claims to believe, simply shows that Calvin College is not a strong Christian college campus.
This article intrigued me especially because this past year, during my college search, I visited Calvin College. As a devoted Christian I was looking for a college where I would be spiritually strengthened as well as academically challenged. While on campus I happened across a school magazine where it was brought up the issue of homosexuality and gay rights. Being that I was in a “Christian,” or what I thought to be a Bible believing environment, I expected that they would side on the how the Bible approaches same sex sin. They did not however, professors and students agreed that homosexuality was the right of the person, and that they could do whatever they wanted. Although this is proven to be true, that we can do whatever we want, this is not the kind of support I wished to receive from a Christian college education.
In a letter, from a 19 year old Calvin student, to Ken Ham, the young man addresses Ken with a brash, almost bitter, tone. If you read the article for yourself, there are many places where the young man responds to Ken Ham’s concern for Calvin College in an insulting, derogatory way. “All my Calvin professors, including those in the religion and biology departments, have claimed that salvation is through faith in Christ. So that seems to suggest that, like you say, they are indeed Christians. But then you seem to imply that Calvin is a phony Christian school and its pro-evolution professors will face eternal judgment and quite possibly damnation.” Although everyone is not forced to believe the same views that Ken Ham does, it seems really unchristian like for the college to respond to Ken’s article as they did. It also brings up the question of where Calvin College is truly a “Christian College,” when a religion professor, who has spend so many years studying his beliefs, claims that the Bible has errors.