"...Responsible Christians face two tasks-that of saving the soul and that of saving the mind. No civilization can endure with its mind being as confused and disordered as ours is today. All our ills stem proximately from the false philosophies that have been let loose in the world and that are now being taught in the universities.... Save the university and you save Western civilization and therewith the world."

-Dr. Charles Malik, Lebanese educator and statesman

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The United States Supreme Court ruled, "The classroom is peculiarly the 'marketplace of ideas.' The Nation's future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth 'out of a multitude of tongues, [rather] than through any kind of authoritative selection."

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— United States v. Associated Press, 52 F. Supp. 362, 372.

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"We have a gospel to proclaim. We have to proclaim it not merely to individuals in their personal and domestic lives. . . . we have to proclaim it as part of the continuing conversation which shapes public doctrine. It must be heard in the conversation of economists, psychiatrists, educators, scientists, and politicians."

—Lesslie Newbigin, Truth To Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1991), p. 64.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled:

"Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die."

—Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1957)

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On July 13, 1787, the Continental Congress passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States." This law was passed again by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington on August 4, 1789:

"Article III
Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."

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As the United States Supreme Court stated so clearly in 1892:

"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon the teachings of the redeemer of mankind [Jesus Christ]. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to the extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.

—both of the above cited in One Nation Under God: America's Christian Heritage. Access at LeadershipU >

"A university should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning."

-Benjamin Disraeli, British Parliamentarian

A survey in the 90's revealed that all the major evangelical student organizations together were exposing only 30 percent of students to the gospel once a year. Yet, those hostile to the Christian worldview deliver their message to virtually every student every single day, sometimes openly attacking students' faith commitments and religion in general.

Yet, in the flood of conflicting ideas on campus, students are searching for something with an anchor in truth and reality. Professors represent knowledge and stability. Students often look to professors for guidance with life problems and in their search for meaning and purpose.