Wacky Fundie Institution Decor

[Joyster]

I was researching a speaker at the home church of a fundie.  I found out he is a student at Providence Bible College in Elgin, Illinois.  Since I drive by this area a few times a month, I searched the college.  At first glance, it is a typical fundie institution.  The cover picture is young maidens playing volleyball in long skirts.  What fascinates me is the building and decor.  The college is in an old Best Western hotel that I think might have originated as a Holiday Inn Holidome.  The dorm rooms, classrooms, and recreation areas are all in the building. The building is decorated with an extensive taxidermy collection.From the college's website Providence Baptist College:

Quote

One of the highlights of any visit to Providence Baptist College is the taxidermy collection housed on the college campus. As an outdoor enthusiast, Pastor Gomez, along with others, has chosen to display their many hunting trophies in the common areas of the college. Others as well have decided to display their hunting trophies on campus. With three lions, two grizzly bears, six elk, four zebras, a rhino, hippo, giraffe, leopard, and dozens of white-tail deer, this collection makes the campus a destination to remember.

If you can't imagine what this looks like, there is a virtual tour on the site: Atrium Virtual Tour.  Make sure to click on the circles to get all the locations.  It truly is bizarre.  I can't imagine walking outside of my dorm room to find  this. A couple of screenshots are below.

Spoiler

I thought it might be interesting to have a thread for unusual decor at a fundie church or school.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Oh course these manly fundie men must display their hunting trophies in public. They must have their egos stroked regularly. And the fact that it still looks like a Holidome is hilarious. We went to a certain Holidome when I was a kid and it looked so much like that. It would be so weird to walk into your college and it look like a motel turned Bass Pro Shop. 

[zee_four]

I'm all for humane hunting to keep populations healthy and in check, and when you use everything possible, from meat, to hide, etc. frkm the kill. Like elk and deer for example.

Shooting a lion that was most likely drugged or trapped, after paying and exploiting locals, and only using it to make a taxidemeried trophy to the least manly,  least true hunting, biggest pathetic choad fest I can think of makes me sick. Fuck you "Pastor" Gomez.

[VooDooChild]

I can't even formulate a coherent thought for this.  Just....boo.  Hiss.  NO! 👎Ew.  The whole thing.  Just ew.

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 hours ago, zee_four said:

I'm all for humane hunting to keep populations healthy and in check, and when you use everything possible, from meat, to hide, etc. frkm the kill. Like elk and deer for example.

Shooting a lion that was most likely drugged or trapped, after paying and exploiting locals, and only using it to make a taxidemeried trophy to the least manly,  least true hunting, biggest pathetic choad fest I can think of makes me sick. Fuck you "Pastor" Gomez.

They have a giraffe too. Like why would you hunt a giraffe? I just don’t get it. They are so beautiful and huge. So I imagine they are probably easy targets since they are so big. Why don’t these trophy guys try to kill small things that would be really hard targets to get? Less prestige that’s why.  They get these giant animals that were probably lured to them and without a natural fear of humans. 

[postscript]

Wow. I had no idea when I clicked on “virtual tour” that I was going to be confronted by an entire wall of deer heads. And it went downhill from there. So many beautiful creatures sacrificed for one man’s ego. 

Do alligators stick their tails up in the air like that? I’ve never seen one that wasn’t doing a log impression. I feel like I’m seeing phallic symbols in everything lately. 

[CelticGoddess]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:46 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

Oh course these manly fundie men must display their hunting trophies in public. They must have their egos stroked regularly. And the fact that it still looks like a Holidome is hilarious. We went to a certain Holidome when I was a kid and it looked so much like that. It would be so weird to walk into your college and it look like a motel turned Bass Pro Shop. 

My first thought when I read about the taxidermy was that whoever founded the college was disappointed that he didn't own a BassPro Shop.  Although, honestly, I think Bass a bit more taste, LOL

 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:34 PM, Joyster said:

Since I drive by this area a few times a month, I searched the college. 

I was wondering why the name sounded familiar and realized I'd looked it up too after driving by on a day when students were outside playing sports in denim skirts! 

[Becky]

Wow - that is the stuff of nightmares, right there.  *shudder*  

[Cults-r-us]

18 minutes ago, Becky said:

Wow - that is the stuff of nightmares, right there.  *shudder*  

Where I live they had a ginormous coyote hunt to raise money for a veterans something or other. They displayed their bounty in pictures of this huge, huge pile of dead coyotes. A local man, a gun nut and outdoorsman in his own right, posted he did not approve of an animal "massacre" like this.

Now we have certainly had our own problems with coyotes making s nuisance of theirselves and have needed to thin them out here and there. You cannot say anything about their kill making you uneasy without everybody exclaiming how wonderful and necessary it is to kill coyotes.

But that guy has a point. Something about this hunt doesn't sit right.

[JermajestyDuggar]

54 minutes ago, Cults-r-us said:

Where I live they had a ginormous coyote hunt to raise money for a veterans something or other. They displayed their bounty in pictures of this huge, huge pile of dead coyotes. A local man, a gun nut and outdoorsman in his own right, posted he did not approve of an animal "massacre" like this.

Now we have certainly had our own problems with coyotes making s nuisance of theirselves and have needed to thin them out here and there. You cannot say anything about their kill making you uneasy without everybody exclaiming how wonderful and necessary it is to kill coyotes.

But that guy has a point. Something about this hunt doesn't sit right.

I agree. That’s just disturbing. I understand killing the coyotes that are causing issues but just killing coyote after coyote after coyote because they *could* be a nuisance in the future is a crappy excuse in my opinion. What do they do with the carcasses? Are they wasted? Because at least deer hunting provides food. 

[Cults-r-us]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I agree. That’s just disturbing. I understand killing the coyotes that are causing issues but just killing coyote after coyote after coyote because they *could* be a nuisance in the future is a crappy excuse in my opinion. What do they do with the carcasses? Are they wasted? Because at least deer hunting provides food. 

Don't know if they sold the pelts. Somehow this made a boatload of money. Seems on the slaughterous side to me. I am neither a hunter nor a gun nut nor a man, but this hunt seems entirely reasonable to them.

[Petronella]

The application form is a trip. https://providencebaptistcollege.com/admissions/apply/

Notably, it doesn't ask for any grades or specific academic prerequisites. It does ask from where you will graduate or have graduated high school or gotten a GED (interestingly, no mention of homeschooling, though I expect they would accept "homeschooled" as a high school), but not how well you did there or even what classes you took. It asks if you took the ACT or SAT but not what your score was.

What DO they care about? I'm glad you asked!

"Is there anything in your past which may be important for the college to be aware of? Known addictions, questionable practices, misdemeanors, felonies, etc."

"Do you have any outstanding debt?"

"Have you ever used illegal, indictable, or recreational drugs (to include marijuana)?"

"Have you ever used alcohol of any kind?"

(Note that these are yes/no questions with no opportunity to give context. Basically, one sip of wine and years of binge drinking have the same answer: yes. It's bizarre.)

"Has your job, schooling, or military service ever been interrupted because of emotional problems?"

"How many years have you been saved?"

"Personal Testimony
Please write a detailed explanation about your salvation experience, your call to service, your reasons for attending Providence Baptist College, and your plans after graduation."

It asks if you have any "physical limitations" which makes sense so the school can then be sure to provide what you need, right? Nope! They ask because they're concerned how such limitations might affect your ability to follow the rules:

"Given any physical limitations, will you need any exemptions or special exceptions from the rules of Providence Baptist College?"

(I can't even imagine what they're picturing. What rules are going to be impacted by a disability?)

Then you must agree to this:

"Substance Abstinence Clause
Because of the Biblical mandates against them, Providence Baptist College prohibits the use of alcohol, narcotics (including marijuana) and tobacco. The use of any of these substances at any time is expressly prohibited while enrolled at Providence Baptist College. Do you agree to totally abstain from these substances while enrolled at Providence Baptist College?"

While the Bible does speak against drunkenness, it very much encourages the moderate consumption of wine. And doesn't mention smoking at all, to my understanding. Good grief!

 

 

 

[cacophony_grey]

In just a three-paragraph overview of their beliefs, the word "agressive" shows up twice. Excerpt:

"The training given to these Christian workers is spiritually sound, historically traditional, politically conservative, evangelistically aggressive, theologically Baptist, and thus consistent with what is preached from fundamental, independent Baptist pulpits."

Sounds fun. Sign me up!

[Sarcastically spinster]

On 3/13/2022 at 7:54 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I agree. That’s just disturbing. I understand killing the coyotes that are causing issues but just killing coyote after coyote after coyote because they *could* be a nuisance in the future is a crappy excuse in my opinion. What do they do with the carcasses? Are they wasted? Because at least deer hunting provides food. 

Often it's not just an individual coyote that's causing problems.  It's a local overpopulation that's leading to them starting to target livestock.  The pelts may be being turned into clothing items, etc.  If this was being done in part to address a local overpopulation, then it's not something that I would have a problem with - might as well make a fundraiser out of a necessary task.  

It's worth remembering that humans actually *are* natural predators.  Overhunting can be a problem, but if we aren't functioning in our natural predator role, then it can create ripple problems with overpopulation of species that have no other natural predators in the area.  

Responsible hunting, with the carcasses used in a responsible way, is an important part of the ecosystem.  

[Joyster]

14 hours ago, Petronella said:

 It does ask from where you will graduate or have graduated high school or gotten a GED (interestingly, no mention of homeschooling, though I expect they would accept "homeschooled" as a high school)

You are right; they do accepted "homeschooled"" as a high school.  The student that spoke at Joy Baptist was a home school graduate.  You would think they would have a spot for that on the application.

I'm a little obsessed with learning about this college, but besides the horrid decor, it is fairly typical.  The academic major requirements are fun to read. I'm a special educator, and I would love to see the syllabus for the sophomore "Learning Disabilities from a Biblical Perspective" for the elementary christian education major; it's 2 credits just like the required course of "Prayer".  On Providence's Facebook page, this school year they have  Maverick Minutes with two college students, Judy and Mindy.  They are cute in a cheesy, fundie way.

[pandorasjen]

I'm from Elgin and I've been in that place dozens of times before it was a college. I didn't even realize the college existed until a few years ago and then realized that's where all the girls in the denim skirts came from. Groups of them would come in to the bank where I worked. At the time I assumed that they were coming from Judson College and thought it was really weird that Judson had all of a sudden gotten really conservative Christians. It wasn't until later that I realized they were coming from Providence.

It's really strange to see the pictures and realize that the place I went to as a teenager to party is now a fundie college 🤯