Home of Cordell Christian College - Cordell, OK - Oklahoma Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This is a granite marker mounted on a steel pipe, and slanted toward the viewer. The marker is engraved with a drawing of a three-story building on the former campus. The college was run by the Church of Christ. The marker reads:

The marker is factual, giving the dates, but the story behind this school is quite amazing. Back in its time, the Church of Christ believed a very pacifist ideology, which was not popular during the patriotic days of World War I. Let me quote a passage from this website:

OK Christian College
"Cordell was headed by a man named J.N. Armstrong. Armstrong held to what Richard Hughes calls “an apocalyptic worldview.” This viewpoint was fairly common in our brotherhood in the late 19th century, putting a strong emphasis on the Kingdom of God vs. the kingdoms of this earth. Among other things, such a view typically leads to a refusal to participate in war. This apocalyptic thinking became common among the faculty at Cordell Christian, a fact which did not please the pro-war community around them. In particular, the Selective Service board felt that Cordell was not giving sufficient encouragement to its students to enlist in the military. When faculty member S.A. Bell published an anti-war article in the Gospel Herald, that was perceived to be the final straw. The Selective Service board intervened, demanding the resignation of Armstrong, Bell and all faculty members who held to a pacifist viewpoint. Rather than accede to these demands, Cordell Christian College closed its doors."

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