Augustana University Investigation: Uncovering Non-Christian Aspects of the ELCA College

You are playing with fire when you send your teenager to an ELCA college. That is definitely true of Augustana University, as you will see below, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). 

Augustana University is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 2015-2016 it had an undergraduate enrollment of 1,563. For Bible-believing followers of Jesus, the stances and activities of Augustana University should be disturbing and alarming. 

Here is what my investigation uncovered:

Drag Shows

- If you like to look at men dressed up as women, or women dressed as men, you can see it at Augustana University. 

I declare that Drag Show a success. ✅ btw here's a pic of @JoshasaurRawr being a cutie pic.twitter.com/wWp3LkmPlb

— Augustana (SD) GSA (@AugustanaGSA) March 24, 2017

-  The Augustana Student Association gave $250 "for an 18 plus drag show" to the Gender & Sexuality Alliance. (See here, page one)

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Sex and LGBT Related

​-  Augustana University has a student group called the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) which describes itself in this way, “The Augustana GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) is an organization committed to the representation and advocacy of the Gender/Sexual diverse.” (see here)

-  The Augustana Campus Ministry website displays "The Augustana Student Congregation Welcome Statement." It begins this way:

“Come to me,
All who believe, all who wonder,
and all who don’t know what to think;
All who are joyful, all who suffer, and all who are complacent;
All who are homosexual, or heterosexual, or bisexual,
and all who simply don’t know;
All who are male, all who are female, and all who are transgender.” (See here)
 
-  The Augustana University Campus Ministry is also a Reconciling in Christ Congregation which, in essence, means they view LGBT behaviors as normal and not sinful. (See here)

​-  A lecture by Austen Hartke, a bisexual, transgender man is happening October 29th, 2018 at Augustana University (See here)


More about Campus Ministry

- The Campus Ministry likes to delve into the politics of the day, seen here co-sponsoring a “Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Refugees, Immigrants and Sojourners” with the Muslim Students' Association (MSA), area churches, the South Dakota Synod of the ELCA, and the Muslims Community Center. (See here)


Non-Christian Religions

-  At Augustana University you will find a student group called the Muslim Students' Association (see here) 

-  Augustana University has a Interfaith Reflection Room. The university reports that the "space is designed to provide a safe place for people of all religions and non-religious traditions to pray, meditate, worship, reflect, study and practice their faith . . . the room includes sacred texts from a variety of religious traditions . . .” (See here) 

-  The Augustana Magazine printed an article highlighting the atheist group, Augustana Open Minds. (see here on page 25 and the group page here)

​-  The university also partnered with a Unitarian Universalist church. (see here)
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​- Augustana University newspaper, The Augustana Mirror published a 2 page article about two Augustana seniors who practice witchcraft. It is titled "Modern witches: two students find spirituality in Wicca." (See here) 

"Cultural Appropriation"

- Augustana University website, "VikingCentral," has this article, see below, titled “4 Acts of Cultural Appropriation You Should Avoid this Cinco de Mayo.” (Also see here)

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-  This must be an important idea to the university since they posted seven other related articles informing students what they feel is right and what is wrong when it comes to culture and costume. See below and here) 

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Housing

-  Flexible housing is offered at Augustana University. This means “that students may select roommates or housemates regardless of gender.” This is available at select university housing. (See here)
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Lastly, see how Augustana University was rated by students who attended the school, and what they had to say about their experiences here.