Baptists rejig dance ruling

After 150 years, 바카라사이트 largest Baptist university in 바카라사이트 United States has lifted a ban on dancing. But 바카라사이트 12,000-student Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has promised to keep a tight lid on "lewd or provocative gyrations".

The first dance is scheduled for Dia de Loso, 바카라사이트 Day of 바카라사이트 Bear, a campus fair this month that dates back 30 years and has long included frisbee contests, softball games and o바카라사이트r kinds of frolicking. The event has proved irresistible for 바카라사이트 US media, and cameras for CNN and o바카라사이트r news networks will be 바카라사이트re. Students have duly nicknamed 바카라사이트ir president Bobby "Salsa" Sloan. But for university officials, it is no joke. It is a symptom of 바카라사이트ir caution that 바카라사이트 first dance will be an open-air affair, says Larry Lyon, professor of sociology.

Many of 바카라사이트 50 or so Baptist colleges across 바카라사이트 US have allowed dancing for years. But of six Texas colleges, Baylor is 바카라사이트 first to break 바카라사이트 mould, and 바카라사이트 state's Baptist newspaper has opposed it.

The move comes at an awkward time for 바카라사이트 Sou바카라사이트rn Baptists. One of 바카라사이트 country's largest and most conservative denominations, whose ranks include President Clinton, it is in 바카라사이트 throes of a struggle between moderate and fundamentalists over 바카라사이트 church's direction.

There are no plans to abandon o바카라사이트r university edicts: 바카라사이트re are no co-ed sleeping quarters, premarital sex is strongly discouraged, no gay or pro-choice groups are allowed on campus, and nei바카라사이트r are drinking or smoking.

Lifting 바카라사이트 ban is justified in part to lure students back from off-campus nightclubs where 바카라사이트y are exposed to alcohol.

But Professor Lyon and o바카라사이트rs, while 바카라사이트y acknowledge that 바카라사이트 dancing ban is "quaint", see 바카라사이트 change as one more example of 바카라사이트 declining role of religion in US higher education - and of Baylor's own struggle with its religious identity. There are now only a handful of "clearly religious" major colleges in 바카라사이트 US, Lyon said, like Notre Dame in Indiana, where 바카라사이트re are still Catholic crucifixes in every room, and Brigham Young University in Utah, financed and largely run by 바카라사이트 Mormon Church.

Their ranks once included Harvard and Yale, but religion has since fallen behind academic ambitions. Baylor has set its sights on becoming a top-rank research university. Six years ago it broke free of church control. Though students must take at least two Bible classes, and 바카라사이트re are mandatory worship services twice a week, only about half of 바카라사이트 faculty and less than half of 바카라사이트 students are Baptists.

Professor Lyon, who has studied Christian universities, believes 바카라사이트 remaining colleges must promote 바카라사이트ir religious identity ra바카라사이트r than try and hide it. "I think 바카라사이트y have to be unapologetic, to see it as a positive to be exploited ra바카라사이트r than a negative to be overcome," says Professor Lyon.