Eric Fromm, a senior at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Ore. and president of the student body, wrote an article in the school online paper this week revealing that he’s an atheist. According to ABCNews, Fromm said he enrolled at Northwest Christian because of its “solid communications program.” He also found the chapel services palatable enough to endure as a requirement for graduation, but he confessed that he “was an atheist long before” he came to NCU.
“Every day I’m burdened by the fact that my peers might reject me because I’m different from them. I won’t be rejected because of my race or social class, but simply because of the fact that I don’t believe in God—because I am an atheist,” wrote Fromm in his post.
“I was baptized Lutheran and raised Methodist, but as time went on I slowly came to the conclusion that God wasn’t real. For me, church was an empty ritual that I participated in so I could see friends, scripture was largely mythological, and Jesus was a great moral teacher, but he wasn’t God,” said Fromm’s post.
Interestingly, the school and his peers have treated Fromm with respect to his “spiritual journey.”
“Eric’s story within the blog post isn’t a surprise to us,” said Jeannine Jones, director of university relations at NCU. “Eric and his journey to his faith is central to our mission.”
“All of our students are on a journey,” Jones said. “While the majority of our students profess a Christian faith, not all do. We as an institution meet students were they are at and believe that our God is big enough.”
