Another fake religious school for anyone interested. These are an embarassment to all of us who are Christians. GRACE VALLEY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
I think that the educational/theological problem here is temptation. Religious exemptions leave religious education essentially unregulated, and anyone can open his or her own "seminary" or "university", so long as it restricts itself to religious subjects (sometimes very broadly interpreted). So on one hand religious exemptions keep the constricting hand of the state off the practice of religion. But on the other hand, religious exemptions dangle the forbidden fruit of substandard education and even full-frontal fraud in front of naive and not-so-naive religious practitioners. It isn't just Christians that face this serpent, but since Christians predominate so greatly in terms of numbers here in the US, inevitably most of those who submit to this temptation are Christian.
Bill, I would argue that most of these "Christian" degree mills are not run by Christians at all, but by those that use the Christian mantle as a way to get around the regulatory standards that you refer to. I think the vast majority of these people know exactly what they are doing and have no objection to ripping people off in the name of Christ. Much like the fake healers you see on TV such as Benny Hinn. I have no doubt that he knows that he is a fake and is using Christianity as a convenient cover to steal people's money. The average Christian has nothing to do with these scams, or any control over those that perpetrate them. BLD
You might be right, BLD. Degree mills are an attractive business. Set up a website and retire on the proceeds. If you put some work into it, you can even get rich. Religious exemptions make it safe, and Christians are by far the largest and most inviting target. But I do suspect that a lot of these things are sort-of sincere though. Many of them seem to come out of church basements and seem to be little Bible study groups that somehow got swept away on a tide of self-granted "doctorates". There's a lot of passionate rationalization swirling around them. I'm not trying to criticize Christians by saying that. Self-aggrandizement is equally prevalent in the secular realm, as Laura Callaghan attests. It's just that religious exemptions focus it. That's kind of sad and ironic, actually.
Re: Re: Grace Valley Theological Seminary It most certainly is. You could easily print your own on a laser printer with high quality paper for $5. Tom Nixon
Re: Re: Re: Grace Valley Theological Seminary I tried this method, Tom, but the high quality paper smudged and it actually cost $7. Besides, the $250 tuition investment makes me feel that I really earned the degree.
