Dennis Prager Discovers the CCU Difference
Commentator and radio talk show host Dennis Prager recently interviewed students from Colorado Christian University on his daily radio show, and he was struck by the difference in CCU students compared to their counterparts at other universities. Broadcasting from KNUS Studios in Denver, Colorado, Prager interviewed six CCU students and queried them on moral and social issues - asking tough questions and taking polls of opinion.
"Suppose you're walking beside a body of water," Prager quizzed the group, "and you can either save your pet - that you love - who is drowning, or you can save a stranger who is drowning. Whom do you save?"
When all students responded that they would save the stranger, Prager was surprised, explaining that at most high schools and colleges he speaks to the votes are split into thirds: one-third would save the pet, one-third the stranger, and one-third was unsure. This is because, he continued, that the guiding principle for many people is how they feel - and they love their pet more than they do a stranger.
"CCU teaches values that undergird the American value system," Prager continued. "We're created in God's image and pets are not."
Part of the American value system tied into Prager's next question - whether people are inherently good or evil. "I want to believe people inherently choose to do good," explained Chad Yelinski, "but I think it's an idealistic view of the world."
Prager agreed: "Almost everything is explicable depending on whether you think people are basically good or not - whether evil comes from a person or from outside sources." Since America's founders realized evil comes from within people, they limited the power of government.
Throughout, Prager noted the consensus of Judeo-Christian values that students espoused - and that he does, as well.
He closed his show by interviewing Assistant Professor of Politics Greg Schaller. The professor, who teaches American Government, remarked, "What we created in 1776 and 1787 is remarkable as the best form of government ever established - and one that's worth preserving."
The surprise in the host's voice was evident: "A political science professor who thinks America was a good thing to create!" He again stressed the unique role that CCU plays in academia today, as both a defender of faith and a defender of traditional American values.