Hi, I took a quick look at the back of the mag to see what dl offerings were included. Adds for the following Eisner Institute, The New Seminary, Westbrook, Celebrant.usa.org, Trinity College of Health mixed in with the real Burlington.edu, Union Institute, and Pacifica.edu. I found this disturbing. Hille****and Heed
Magazines will sell ad space to anyone who pays their bills. With the rise of the internet and the decline of print media, this is more prevalent now than ever.
Sad but true - I certainly hope that people have been watching the news, reading the news, and researching their stuff on the internet prior to applying to a University... any University.
I don't understand why you lump legitimate religious schools that are clearly legal and exempt in every state if you care to use their degrees, from other secular programs. True Celebrant.usa.org seems to be rather silly as a legal ULC minister I can perform all those services and not pay so much to start but the New Seminary seems acceptable, for the independent person of faith such as myself who may want a period of formal training. But no state makes it illegal to get an unaccredited secular degree just using one, people should research each school and make a personal choice if they want to pay for each sort of degree.
Because the religious exemption loophole is something that a lot of frauds drive a truck through. I think it was LaSalle that made the argument before a Louisiana court that God created everything, and so, therefore, EVERY degree is a religious degree. Amazingly, the courts bought that argument for quite a while. Steve Levicoff wrote a wonderful book about religious degree mills, called "Name It and Frame It" that described the problem in detail. Unfortunately, the handful of well meaning but unaccredited religious schools gets lumped in with the frauds, and it can be really difficult to separate the two.
In the early 1970s, Psychology Today was one of the leading places that totally phony schools advertised. I met with the editor, T George Harris, several times, as part of a joint venture being discussed with my then-employer, Midas Muffler. I made a presentation to him, and several others, and they seemed genuinely upset and surprised. But they later reported back that the editorial side was so isolated from the advertising side, there was nothing whatever they could do. And 35 years later, the problem persists. The joint venture, by the way, was one of the best ideas I ever had, if I do say so m'self. It was to cooperate to turn the 1,000-or-so Midas waiting rooms into highly interactive learning centers, so that instead of sitting on an uncomfortable chair reading old Field & Stream magazines for an hour, the several million customers each year could have an enjoyable and worthwhile experience. Then Midas was gobbled up by the Illinois Central Railroad, which had no interest in stuff like that.
Well there is the First Amendment you know the government won't dare attack any religious school although I tend to agree with some, such schools would be better off offering diplomas over degrees. One would have a hard time arguing a diploma from a bible college say a Diploma of Ministry would at least be more prone to legitimate use. But my arguement still stands there is a legal difference between religious degrees and secular degrees, the former even from a horrid school is still legal to use. Unless you fraudulantly take out some wording to make the degree not something legal, like a degree in Christian Education leaving out the Christian part. One Creation Scientist did that I believe in Florida.
Bazonkers: I never knew this. I learn something new every day. John: Wistful memories. Best 9-5 job I ever had. Midas was probably the most liberal and socially active large corporation America has had. Their president had done his Ph.D. under the guidance of Karl Jung in Zurich. They were the initial major funders of Ralph Nader's centers in Washington. They financed Saul Alinsky in starting a school for training middle class activists in Chicago. Founded what was then the largest public interest law firm in the country (a huge thorn in the first Mayor Daley's side). Helped finance the defense of the Chicago Seven. Gave three south-side muffler shops that they couldn't keep open because of crime, to the Blackstone Rangers gang, and helped them operate them, quite successfully. That sort of thing. Illinois Central, which, as I recall, also owned Hires Root Beer and L'Eggs Panty Hose, immediately terminated all this stuff. If they hadn't, I'd probably still be there.
