A Mission of Understanding

"A lot of [Christians] think of the artistic world as an underworld, as fallen, that it's too sinful," she said. "But I say, you need to suck it up. You have to go shine your light on them."

Laurel Schmuck wanted to go to a Christian college but couldn't find one that had her desired major, Russian. She was going to U-Md.

"People get combative, and I didn't want to face that my first year out," Schmuck said.

"There are lots of people who go to Wheaton, all kinds of people," Smith added.

"I don't agree with Danny. You can find just as much diversity at Christian schools," Schmuck said.

Leydorf paused. "I want to look at what people believe and say: Why do they believe this?"

Smith smiled, somewhat dreamily. "I'm not ready to leave the Christian environment. I love it so much."

* * *

The evangelical private school boom probably would come as a surprise to the early members of the U.S. evangelical movement, which began in the 1940s to oppose Protestant fundamentalists who advocated removing themselves from the wider culture.

"It was that old evangelical impulse to stay in the public schools as a witness, as a presence," said University of North Carolina sociologist David Sikkink. Evangelicals would talk about the importance of having their children "battle-tested" by the public schools, he said.

But in the 1970s, things started to change, after Supreme Court rulings against school prayer and in favor of teaching evolution.

"More social issues began to be taught from a particular view, and that's one of the things that concerned families that didn't share that same viewpoint," said Burt Carney, ACSI's director for legislative issues. The group saw double-digit growth in membership every year from its founding until the late 1990s, when numbers plateaued a bit.