Top leaders of a conservative activist group often quoted in Canadian media as representing Judeo-Christian moral values pad their resumes with degrees from unaccredited schools.

…Also on the faculty at Victory Bible Colleges are George and Hazel Hill, co-founders of Victory Churches International, a church-planting organization that sponsors Victory Bible Colleges in the Americas, Asia and Africa.

EthicsDaily.com reported last month that Charles McVety, identified as one of Canada’s leading culture warriors in the fight against gay marriage, received his doctorate from California State Christian University, an unaccredited extension of a Korean seminary affiliated with Victory Bible Colleges International.

The organization’s co-founder and executive director is Brian Rushfeldt, a former pastor who acquired his theology degree by correspondence from Canada Christian College McVety is president of Canada Christian College, which works closely with Liberty University and Oral Roberts University in the United States.

Rushfeldt is former dean of Victory Bible Colleges International, which enrolls a reported 100 full-time students both on and off campus and 200 “distance learning students.” The current dean is George Madden, an apostolic minister with degrees from Rhema Bible Training Center, a non-accredited school associated with Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Tulsa, Okla.

Madden got his master of divinity degree from Victory Bible Colleges International and a doctorate from the Evangelical Order of Certified Pastoral Counselors, which awards degrees through Victory Bible College in Canada and California State Christian University in the United States. California State Christian University, an American extension of Tae Han Theological Seminary and College in Seoul, South Korea, is not listed in a Council for Higher Education Accreditation database of institutions recognized by U.S. accrediting agencies. One of the contacts listed for the EOCPC is Stephen Hambly, who is dean of psychology and counseling at Victory Bible Colleges International.

The rest here: Academic Credentials of Conservative Canadian Leaders Questioned

Ethics Daily, a US Baptist Ethics publication providing a centrist ethical framework with a strong moral witness and cutting edge cultural analysis has done an outstanding job of pointing out some of Canada’s religious right leaders propensity to honour themselves with ‘doctorates.’ Along with progressive bloggers and a couple of faith bloggers willing to speak up and help dig up the information, we continue to encourage Canadian media to stop using the term ‘Doctor’ for these men.

I want to thank our US friends for their willingness to do the work on this and to stand with those of us trying to get the word out, use of diploma mills, and honourary degrees awarded to a cliche of fundamentalist friends in Canada is not acceptable to the average person of faith.

There has been nothing from media, nothing I can find from Canadian religious organizations speaking up on fake honoraries and diploma mills. This goes to the credibility of all of us willing to look the other way. These ‘bible colleges’ are not accountable to accrediting agencies, provincial departments; these doctorates and their ties to diploma mills not touchable as far as I know by any educational or government agency. This is our shame. Brian Rushfeldt of Canada Family Action Coalition was emailed, phoned, and a Calgarian showed up at the office. He received no response.

This is not being out to ‘get’ people, this is not mockery of faith; this is about asking the hard questions about why Canadian religious leaders believe or feel it’s okay to use dubious and false credentials, to by-pass ethics and harm the credibility of Canadian Christianity. This is our shame.

California State Christian University (with thanks to achievable ends, Culture Choc, Mark Peterson, The Heresy, unrepentant old hippie, The Galloping Beaver)

fun with Charles and no staffers get expelled

(Dr?) Charles McVety/Dr. Brian Rushfeldt - what’s a few degrees between friends (with thanks to Red Tory 2.0, Canuck Attitude)

The harm of diploma mills

How Charles McVety moves money (thanks to Shuffl)

Blogs Canada got the information on McVety’s political cybersquatting into the spotlight, MP Garth Turner pointed out the political aspirations of the Canadian religious right.

gallery: Canada Family Action Coalition, Calgary: Canada Christian College, Toronto, California State Christian University, Los Angeles; Victory College International, Calgary.  Not available: Evangelical Order of Pastoral Counsellors, Burlington; Rhema Bible School, Oklahoma; St. Petersburg, Russia; Wagner Leadership Institute, Red Deer.

Canadian traditional media which has used or is using Dr for: Charles McVety, Brian Rushfeldt, George Madden, Stephen Hambly, George and Hazel Hill, etc. Globe and Mail, CBC, Toronto Star, Canada Free Press, Canada.com

“Many tender-minded Christians fear to sin against love by daring to inquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and breathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the latest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something which may be of God.

They timidly remember how the Pharisees refused to accept Christ when He came, and they do not want to be caught in the same snare, so they either reserve judgment or shut their eyes and accept everything without question. This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality. But in sober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence of the Holy Spirit.

Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality. Faith is not a mental habit leading its possessor to open his mouth and swallow everything that has about it the color of the supernatural.

Faith keeps its heart open to whatever is of God, and rejects everything that is not of God, however wonderful it may be. A. W. Tozer