"For these failures we are profoundly sorry."

As I discovered at Between Two Worlds, Bob Jones University has issued a Statement About Race at Bob Jones University.

BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.

In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.

I'm not going to parse this or pick it apart. Good for them. Some of the history is here; for the record, Michael Babcock updated the story of the political tend this case contributed to appearing in books by Ed Dobson/Cal Thomas and Randall Balmer and frankly gives the best summary I've seen.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bob Jones U. Apologizes For Racism
• Bob Jones University apologizes for being racists
• Bob Jones Univ. apologizes for racist policies
• Jonesing For An Apology