Occasionally, larger Christian institutions build shaky foundations for themselves and waffle on basic Biblical claims.
Ongoing: Mennonite college flies the pride flag rather than U.S. flag
Even Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va. has put higher priority on the pride flag than the U.S. flag. It never flew the American flag or played "The Star-Spangled Banner" in its graduation ceremonies because of a school policy in effect since 2006, but it has justified to itself the choice to unfurl the pride flag every year for Lavender Graduation since 2022.
This ongoing rule does not seem to make sense as per the university's own rules. The university does not pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag because it believes that to do so denies Christ. Ironically, it deliberately chose to swap out the U.S. flag for the pride flag, despite many Christians, including those in the Mennonite denomination itself, asserting that this symbol is an obvious insult to Christ and would go against Biblical doctrine.
August: Mount St. Mary's critical race theory
A mandatory course at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Md. is using critical race theory in August 2026. One would think that critical race theory mostly left the classroom and the public eye following President Donald Trump's executive order banning DEI-related class assignments.
For the Mount St. Mary's course, according to Campus Reform, students' assignments are to take Biblical passages out of context in support of critical race theory. As no Biblical accounts contain any content having anything to do with critical race theory, the assignments may possibly require students to make a stretch, if not change the meaning of the content entirely.
The larger meaning in even the Gospel of John's account of the woman at the well does not contain critical race theory undertones. The woman was not accepted because of Jews' dislike of Samaritans, but the point is that Jesus accepts all. The Woman at the Well became saved through faith in Christ, and Jesus considered her trust in Him much more important than her race.
Why have the Christian institutions been waffling?
Perhaps the institutions were waffling because of the fear of losing power and popularity. Recently, some Christian institutions have experienced a fear of giving such offense, so they stretch doctrine in the name of continued relevance and even in the name of the infamous "engaging the culture."
Eastern Mennonite University's new rule on pride flags and Mount St. Mary's addition of CRT to Biblical passages both have the appearance of a response to people who accuse Christians of being ham-fisted or intolerant of other views, and a wish for Christianity to be seen as more popular and more accepting, although it makes no sense in light of their own policies and basic Christian teaching. It may be "engaging the culture" gone wrong, as they took chance to virtue-signal with the paradoxical choice to fly the pride flag at a Christian college.
Institutions may also waffle upon experiencing a fear of hurting others' feelings, whether or not it is coupled with a fear that Christianity, if not themselves or their organization, will not matter in the present day. This angle has had a historical presence with larger Christian institutions even in the late 2010s changing Christian doctrine to make themselves more relevant.
In November 2018, for example, the Grammy-nominated contemporary Christian music singer Lauren Daigle had her faith tested and was given a chance to shine. An iHeart Radio interviewer, Domenick Nati, stood, looked into her eyes, and asked a standard biblical question: “Do you think homosexuality is a sin?”
Unfortunately, although she is one of the faces of Contemporary Christian Music, Daigle flunked the test and showed this fear of being considered offensive. She blew her chance as she became afraid of hurting others' feelings. Instead of expressing higher Biblical knowledge, she took the easy way out and replied to Nati with non-answers: "I can't say one way or the other; I'm not God." "I have too many people I love who are homosexuals." As we can see, Eastern Mennonite University made a similar error to Daigle's by holding Lavender Graduations and hoisting the pride flag.
You're not cultured enough to understand Christianity?
Occasionally, liberal activists pull a social commentary angle. They claim that "this artwork or literature is social commentary on specific topics" that the original work might not necessarily include, and argue that "you do not understand true art" when one raises an objection. The claim boils down to, "You're not cultured enough to understand this 'deep and/or unique' perspective on this work of literature or media."
Mount St. Mary's "CRT plus Christianity" course takes a similar approach. This course is based around the professor's book Race and Rhyme: Rereading the New Testament, which argues that the New Testament is commenting about racial issues. This quote from Legal Insurrection describes this "social commentary" the professor argues the Bible is making:
In the book, Sechrest examines New Testament passages involving what she describes as “intergroup conflict, ethnoracial tension, and power dynamics between dominant and minoritized groups.” She writes that her interpretation draws in part from her perspective as a “Black woman scholar.”
Dr. Love L. Sechrest, who created the book, projects "allyship" and "racial justice" onto Christianity, and apparently considers this to be "cultured."
She ignores the fact that even the Old Testament accounts of Egypt enslaving the Hebrews, the captivity in Babylon, and Abraham and Sarah's mistreatment of the maidservant Hagar, during which she felt compelled to run away from home, do not include "critical race theory" undertones. The Bible simply includes these incidents as theological and historical scenarios, similar to the New Testament account of the woman at the well.
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