Later, after losing the Michigan primary to Mc Cain, he further distanced himself from the school while taking a swipe at Mc Cain’s tactics.“I reject bigotry, I reject prejudice, I repudiate anti-Catholicism and racism,” he declared.“And I reject the politics of those who try to pit one group of Americans against another, of those who try to divide us based upon our race or based upon our faith.” Jeb Bush, a converted Catholic and governor of Florida, then came to his brother’s defense on “The Today Show,” offering examples of other politicians who had addressed audiences with whom their values didn’t align.Jones later recalled that in 1924, his friend William Jennings Bryan had leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in Winona Lake, Indiana, and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching evolution as a fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists." While he himself was not a college graduate, Jones grew determined to found a college, and on September 12, 1927, he opened Bob Jones College in Panama City, with 88 students.Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse the people." Bob Jones took no salary from the college and helped support the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. The Florida land boom had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. Bob Jones College barely survived bankruptcy and its move to Cleveland, Tennessee in 1933.Steve Pettit and Carl Abrams talked about Bob Jones University, a Christian liberal arts college at the center of a Supreme Court Case about civil rights and religious liberty.Bob Jones University President Steve Pettit talked about the college’s history and how it came to Greenville, south Carolina.I have my own theories, as well, but today I am just delighted that nearly 100 years after it’s founding, a little light has shown through the chinks of BJU’s racist and segregationist past. Thanks to Amber for the link) About Hemant Mehta Hemant Mehta is the editor of Friendly Atheist, appears on the Atheist Voice channel on You Tube, and co-hosts the uniquely-named Friendly Atheist Podcast. Bob Jones University (BJU) is a private, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States, known for its conservative cultural and religious positions.

Others have speculated as to the reasons for this about face today. It still has a long, long way to go when it comes to respecting the rights of people who aren’t exactly like them, but if the school can acknowledge its segregationist past, maybe it’ll come around in a few decades and admit LGBT people deserve some rights, too.(Image via Stuff Fundies Like.

The grandson of the school’s founder and president of the university, Jones explained to King that the ban, which had cost the school its tax exempt status in 1983, was part of the school’s resistance to “one world order.” Part of Biblical literalist doctrine, “one world order” is believed to signify the end of time, as governments, religions, and races come together and the antichrist appears on Earth.

Bob Jones University lost its tax exemption after a 13-year battle with the IRS over whether the university’s policies against interracial dating precluded it as a non-taxable religious educational institution.

Bush subsequently made it clear that he does not share the school's controversial views, and apologized for missing an opportunity to speak ...

Meanwhile, other folks had some real explaining to do.