By: Dalton Kimbro
AUBURN, Ala. – Some Auburn University faculty and staff have come under fire after participating in student baptisms on campus. Per WSFA News, head football coach Hugh Freeze, along with other Auburn faculty members, can be seen on video baptizing students, including a freshman football player, following an on-campus worship service called “Unite Auburn.”
Involvement of university faculty triggered a response from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), stating that Freeze’s actions “create a coercive environment that excludes those students who don’t subscribe to the Christian views being pushed onto players by their coaches,” per New York Post, while also calling the actions “unconstitutional.”
Although Auburn University and Coach Freeze are the latest victims of anti-religious rhetoric from FFRF, they are not the first. In March, FFRF sent a letter to the University of Colorado regarding head coach Deion Sanders’ prayers with the football team after practices, urging the university to “Ensure that Sanders understands that he has been hired as a football coach and not a pastor,” per Ryan Gaydos.
Although Supreme Court precedent rules in favor of public-school employees engaging in religious expression and exercise, the FFRF still stands behind their stance that these actions by university staff are abuses of power, going so far as to suggest that schools fire team chaplains, per a statement by FFRF in September.
Two questions for the FFRF immediately come to mind. The first being “Why can’t officials share religious beliefs with students who are interested?” I’m not talking about an abuse of power, or pushing a religion on someone, but a faculty member sharing beliefs with students who ask them about it.
Based on interviews conducted around Auburn University at Montgomery’s (AUM) campus, most students would agree that faculty should be able to share religious beliefs when appropriate. “I would be comfortable with a faculty member sharing religious beliefs with students that ask,” said Matthew Linna, a sophomore finance major. “I wouldn’t want them forcing beliefs on students that didn’t ask,” he added. Other AUM students agreed. “I’m comfortable with it as long as the students show interest,” said both Marlo Duggan and Bryce Varner, two AUM seniors who attended the Unite Auburn. “It was unexplainable,” said Varner. “The atmosphere was crazy… there was so much spontaneity with everyone worshiping.” If students don’t care, why do these larger organizations?
My second question to the FFRF would be: “Does the potential harm posed by religious expression on campus really outweigh what students are already going through?” As a college student, I am very aware of the things college students and young people are going through. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem during the 2020-21 school year. According to verywellmind.com, a medically-reviewed internet publication on mental health, the suicide rate in college students has tripled since the 1950s, with suicide being the second leading cause of death in college students. These statistics prove that something is seriously wrong, and the increasing numbers mean the situation is not getting better.
As mental health statistics among college students and America as a whole trend the wrong direction, so does the impact of Christianity. “(America) used to have more than nine out of 10 of its adults who at least claimed to be Christian, now it’s down to just two out of three.
That’s something we need to pay attention to,” said George Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center in an interview with Christian Broadcast Network News. The statistics show that as church attendance has dropped, other, less favorable statistics have increased, and this trend has continued steadily.
I am by no means saying that Christianity (or any religion for that matter) is going to fix all of the problems college students are going through. What I am saying is that I think it is worth it for young people to try God, try Christ-centered community and try living for something other than what we know here on earth. As a nation, and as students, we are at a very low point mentally and spiritually. It is time for something to change.
In May of 2021, I was baptized after a church service. I had spent the previous year and a half searching earnestly for something that would cure the restlessness in my mind and soul. Life-altering questions ran rampant: “Why do bad things happen to good people? What happens when we die? Are these 70-80 years really all that there is?” In the midst of the confusion, I rebelled against a God I did not understand. I tried all that the world had to offer; drugs, sex, parties, alcohol and everything else that was supposed to be fun. I thought those things could bring me enough pleasure to fill the void in my life, but they left me emptier than when I started. I started to understand what Jesus meant in John 10:10 when he said, “The thief (the devil) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” During the previous year, the thief had stolen, killed and destroyed what felt like every good thing I had. I was left hurt and afraid, until that Sunday.
That day, after months of consideration, I decided to give it all up. My way was no longer working. I decided that my life was no longer mine, but it was owed to my creator. I didn’t have all of the answers, but I believed he was real and that he did. I knew if I really believed all of that, I would sound crazy, but it didn’t matter. From that moment, nothing has ever been the same. I found meaning and purpose in something greater than myself that I truly believe with my whole heart. I learned what it meant to have the “life to the full” that Jesus promised.
No matter what I do, the purpose of my life is to show someone else what Jesus did for me. Not by pushing it on someone, not by being mean, but by sharing my story when someone asks. That is the purpose of the Christian life and the ability to do so is the freedom of religion, a right that shall not be infringed, whether you are employed by a public university or not.