The United Methodist Church and its brethren are not profoundly conservative churches. The Christian colleges and universities associated with the denomination are also, with the notable exception of SMU, not particularly right-leaning in either doctrine or politics. Here's a list of 10 most conservative Methodist colleges in the U.S.
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1. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
The school houses the George W. Bush Presidential Center and lists Laura Bush first on its roster of prominent alumni, and Dick Cheney as a trustee. It also skews heavily towards business education. The school makes no overt religious or political statements on its website, but it is consistently ranked high on lists of conservative universities.
Although the Southern Methodist Review notes that 81 percent of the faculty donated funds to liberal candidates in the 2008 race, the student body is, according to conservative students themselves, overwhelmingly conservative.
2. Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama
Huntingdon merely notes that it is "grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the United Methodist Church, is committed to nurturing growth in faith."
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3. LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia
"Firmly rooted in the Christian faith and grounded in the Wesleyan and liberal arts traditions," but they proudly state that their program prepare students "to engage in free intellectual inquiry," generally not what you expect from a normative conservative institution.
4. Spartanburg Methodist College, Spartanburg, South Carolina
"Spartanburg Methodist College is a two-year private residential institution within the United Methodist Connection," the school says. "At SMC, lives are transformed in a values-oriented, student-centered atmosphere in the Christian tradition that encourages academic excellence, intellectual exploration, social awareness, and character development within the liberal arts tradition."
5. West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, West Virginia
"Firmly rooted in the liberal arts tradition and closely related to The United Methodist Church, the College is a community of learning based on fundamental principles formed at the intersection of Christian faith and liberal education," according to the college.
6. Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa
"Iowa Wesleyan College is bold to expect that every graduate will ... deepen personal faith and devotion to God." This "bold" statement, however, is the last in a long list of institutional goals for IWC.
7. Greensboro College, Greensboro, North Carolina
One of the "three pillars" of its strategic plan is its affiliation with the United Methodists Church, the school says.
8. McKendree University, Lebanon, Illinois
"We cherish our historical relationship with the United Methodist Church and its tradition of Judeo-Christian ideals." This is a far cry from doctrinal purity, but the Methodist traditional seems inherently liberal.
9. Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska
Religious influence here seems limited to the couching of a liberal arts education in "an environment of Christian concern."
10. Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, Kentucky
"Christian concern" raises its gentle head in this small college's mission statement: "The mission of Lindsey Wilson College is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being."
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