Most of you reading this article are probably like me–I came to EMU without much practical knowledge about college life and had only a broad familiarity with the Christian university’s courses and teaching methods. In other words, it’s safe to say that a lot of us were lost a few times throughout our first year. Though, it didn’t take me long to discover one thing that really stood out to me about EMU: The Christian Faith core curriculum.
As part of this requirement, students must complete two segments: Anabaptist Biblical Perspectives (ABP) and Christian Identity and Witness (CHST). Now, if you are someone who wants to get away with a course that’s not heavily focused on Christianity or the teachings of Jesus, you can probably opt out for the “Moral Philosophy” or “Introduction to Theology” courses to meet the CHST requirement. However, that all falls apart with the ABP requirement, in which all seven courses revolve around the Bible, gospels, or the Old Testament. It should be noted that all the courses that meet this core requirement account for three credits, a number that’s even higher than some of my major’s classes.
Since I grew up in a religious Muslim household and still identify as Muslim, I was a bit skeptical about this requirement. There is no question that this is a Christian campus. Therefore, faith-based courses would make sense. However, that should be the case when the majority of students identify as Christians. In this area, the majority of EMU’s total student body are not Christian-affiliated. When I reviewed the Student Fact Book on EMU’s website for the Fall 2022 demographics, I noticed that the difference ratio was evident in the Religion section. 412 of all students identified themselves as unaffiliated, followed by 251 students who identified as Mennonites, and others (182) identified as Christians with no denomination.
This is what I mean… Taking courses with dense content, as described by a Buddhist friend who took “An Introduction to the Bible” last year, will not help introduce non-affiliated students to Christianity, but will instead cause them to feel compelled to take the course to graduate. Although it isn’t an issue to touch on religious topics, students shouldn’t be required to take such courses.
As stated on its website, EMU integrates biblical values into its mission, but the website also emphasizes that “over 70% of the student body comes from other faith traditions, [and that] more than 30 religious groups are represented on campus from all over the world.” It appears that the school acknowledges the diversity of faiths it welcomes every year in the name of “community,” but has a difficult time adjusting to the change in the Christian tradition it was built on since 1917.
Change isn’t bad, and teaching courses about Christianity is also not inherently bad. However, the new and emerging campus culture at EMU does not benefit from continuing this requirement. Our students come from so many different traditions, rules, and cultures. For that reason, one of the more effective ways to honor the differences in religious beliefs here at EMU is through promoting courses that provide a perspective about various religious groups in a broader light. And only then can the student choose if they truly want to pursue a more specific course in the future. Therefore, learning about a certain religion in a dense three-credit context becomes that of a genuine interest from the student.