Baylor University has announced it has received a nearly $650,000 grant from a progressive foundation to help foster LGBTQ “inclusion and belonging in the church,” and many are accusing the Christian university of aligning with values that contradict the Bible.
According to a press release from the university’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, the hefty grant was awarded to the Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I). The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation gave $643,401 to researchers to help them “better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”
The grant would fund a major study entitled, “Courage from the Margins: Inclusion and Belonging Practices for LGBTQIA+ and Women in Congregations.” Researchers would be tasked with recruiting two groups of 25 individuals from across the country (ages 18-24) to participate in confidential interviews, focus groups, and surveys to share about their experiences within their congregations.
The resulting information will be used to develop “trauma-sensitive training resources” for churches.
“This grant will focus on the lived experiences of emerging adults. It will assist us in filling out the bigger picture of congregations’ practices that result in an environment of belonging,” Dr. Gaynor Yancey, C3I director and the Lake Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Congregational and Community Health, explained in the press statement. “Through our research, we want to expand our picture of what congregations do and do not do in their caring practices with all people about their experiences of belonging.”
“Wolves in Shepherds’ Clothing”?
Critics say the work and research are deeply problematic.
For one, they cite that the Waco, Texas school describes itself as a Christian university that is a member of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). However, they contend that the school is slowly shedding its faith-based foundation by now prioritizing LGBTQ voices.
In writing for the Washington Times, Everett Piper, the former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, described the institution as “wolves in shepherds’ clothing.”
“Any church, organization or university that is more interested in being ‘inclusive’ of sin than in preaching and teaching that we need to confess it is not biblical and — yes, I’m going to say it — is not Christian,” he wrote. “Do not send your kids to such a school. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous, but wolves in shepherds’ clothing are downright deadly.”
The university’s acceptance of the grant is being met with backlash online.
“This is illuminating and sad and not at all surprising,” wrote the Rev. Denny Burk, associate pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. “Baylor has been moving away from Christian faithfulness for decades now. But it’s still sad to watch another nail in the coffin of a once great Christian university.”
Rev. Matt Kennedy, the senior pastor at Church of the Good Shepherd, wrote, “It’s much better to send your child to a secular university, hostile to the faith, than to a ‘Christian’ university like Baylor. Better the wolf with bared fangs than the wolf disguised as a shepherd.”
It’s much better to send your child to a secular university, hostile to the faith, than to a “Christian” university like Baylor. Better the wolf with bared fangs than the wolf disguised as a shepherd.
— Matt Kennedy (@lambeth981) July 3, 2025
NYT journalist, Megan Basham, outlines in a thread on X that the university’s acceptance of the grant from a progressive foundation has been many years in the making.
So now that the progressive Baugh Foundation has granted Baylor nearly 3 quarters of a million dollars to promote LGBTQ inclusivity, it’s worth looking at why Baylor would take this step sure to anger MANY Christian families who send their kids to school there.
Fact is, they… pic.twitter.com/VDDQu95Eaj
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) July 3, 2025
She reports that in 2024 Baylor created a program with a purpose to “reform congregations specifically in regards to LGBTQ ideology.”
“So they are teaching Christian students who want to go work in those congregations how to be LGBTQ inclusive,” Basham wrote, adding the program flew under the radar that year, but has now expanded to promoting LGBT inclusion on campus.
“We must also learn the lesson that the one who pays the piper calls the tune. When you rely on these big foundations, they eventually get to tell you what your priorities are,” Basham wrote. “And their priorities are almost never biblical faithfulness.”
CBN News has reached out to Baylor University for additional comment. When we receive their response, we will post it here.
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