Christian Fraternity

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While the traditional college fraternity is a well-established mainstay across the United States at institutions of higher learning. Alternatives – in the form of social fraternities that require doctrinal and behavioral conformity to the Christian faith – did not begin to be common until the early 20th century. They continue to grow in size and popularity, both as collegiate and community-based organizations.

History

In the 19th century, there were several Catholic collegiate fraternities such as Phi Kappa, which was established in 1889 at Brown University.[1] In the early part of the 20th century, Christian fraternities began to appear on college campus, often affiliated with a specific branch of Protestantism, such as Methodist or Lutheran. The three largest were Beta Sigma Psi (1925), Alpha Gamma Omega (1927), and Sigma Theta Epsilon (1941), which are all still active.

Beta Sigma Psi

Beta Sigma Psi was founded as a national fraternity for Lutheran students in 1925 at the University of Illinois, home to the largest fraternity and sorority system in the United States. The fraternity had its origins in the concerns of Rev. Frederick William Gustav Stiegemeyer, the son of a Lutheran pastor, who had been entrusted with the spiritual care of Lutheran students at the university. In the fall of 1919, he organized the Lutheran Illini League with a nucleus of ten students. At that time, they intended to meet once or twice a week for religious instruction and discussion on contemporary issues. In the fall of 1920, now with twenty members, the Lutheran Illini League rented a house. In early 1921, it reorganized as the Concordia Club. By 1923, the group regularly participated in campus activities; so much so that they began being referred to as the Concordia Fraternity. On April 17, 1925, incorporation papers were filed for Beta Sigma Psi National Lutheran Fraternity in Springfield, Illinois. By 1970, Beta Sigma Psi had grown to eighteen chapters. The fraternity had ten active chapters as of 2016.

Alpha Gamma Omega

Alpha Gamma Omega was established in 1927 at the University of California, Los Angeles. The fraternity suffered a decline in chapters and membership before experiencing extensive national growth starting in 1987. As of 2020, it had sixteen active chapters.

Sigma Theta Epsilon

Sigma Theta Epsilon was formed in 1941 from the merger of two Methodist-affiliated fraternities: Phi Tau Theta, founded in 1925, and Sigma Epsilon Theta, founded in 1936 at Indiana University. The merged fraternity was initially called Delta Sigma Theta, but the name was changed to Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949 when a national sorority Delta Sigma Theta that was already using the name threatened legal action.

By the late 1950s, Sigma Theta Epsilon had grown to over twenty chapters. However, its numbers began to decline at the end of the 1960s. The fraternity became non-denominational in 1968. Down to only three chapters by the 1980s, Sigma Theta Epsilon began chartering new chapters again in 1988. The fraternity had twelve active chapters during the 2000s, but as of 2016 had only three active chapters. It ceased operations in 2022.

Texas movement

At the same time that the historic Christian fraternities were beginning to rebound from their declining numbers, other groups of Christian fraternities developed, with the rise of the Evangelical Christian movement in Texas in the late 20th century. Beta Upsilon Chi began in 1985 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin as a local Christian fraternity and expanded when students at neighboring Texas schools convinced the founders to open new chapters. As of 2017, it is the largest Christian fraternity in the United States.

Beta Upsilon Chi directly led to the founding of four other Christian collegiate fraternities. The second largest Christian fraternity in the United States, Alpha Nu Omega, was founded three years later at Morgan State University. It was followed by Gamma Phi Delta at the University of Texas at Austin in 1988, while Kappa Upsilon Chi was founded in 1993 on the campus of Texas Tech University. Kappa Upsilon Chi was founded by four men who led Christian college ministries and wanted to create an alternative fraternity for Christian men. Its first pledge class contained some former members of Phi Gamma Delta social fraternity. While its founders originally had no intentions of expanding, the fraternity grew to include seven chapters.

Christian-branded chapters

Some non-religious national social fraternities allow individual chapters to brand themselves with unique ideals conforming to the specific interests of the local members. Instances have arisen in which a singular chapter of an IFC-affiliated social fraternity brands itself a Christian chapter and initiates members based on national membership standards as well as religious beliefs. One of the oldest such chapters is the Beta Alpha chapter of Theta Xi fraternity at Georgia Tech, which marked itself Christian in 1974.[2] The chapter operates as a full social fraternity and member of IFC while pursuing Biblical masculinity and Christian brotherhood. The Beta Alpha chapter is currently the only Christian chapter of a secular fraternity. It expanded this model to a second chapter at Georgia Southern University; however, that chapter has since reverted to a non-religious chapter.[3]

Alpha Iota Omega

Alpha Iota Omega and the University of North Carolina clashed over the university's anti-discrimination policy. The fraternity refused to agree to the policy, which banned religious discrimination. As a result, Alpha Iota Omega was not officially recognized by the university for the 2003–2004 academic year. The fraternity sought assistance from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group, and the Alliance Defense Fund, an American legal alliance defending religious liberties. A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on August 25, 2004, citing the incident in the fall of 2003 when UNC administrator Jonathan Curtis refused to extend the benefits of official recognition to AIO. The group received temporary reinstatement in the spring of 2005.[4][5][6]

Beta Upsilon Chi

In late 2006, the Pi chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi at the University of Georgia was not recognized as a student organization by university officials "because the group requires its members and officers to share the group's Christian beliefs."[7] After months of negotiation between university officials, student officers of the local chapter and officials at the fraternity's national headquarters in Texas, attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed a civil rights suit on December 6, 2006, in federal court against the university on behalf of Beta Upsilon Chi.[8] On December 7, 2006, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the university would remove the religion clause from its anti-discrimination policy.

List of Christian fraternities

Fraternity Symbols Chartered Founding location Scope Type Secondary emphasisActive chapters Status Ref.
Alpha Delta Gamma ΑΔΓ October 10, 1924 Loyola University Chicago National Collegiate Jesuit, social 12 Active
Alpha Gamma Omega ΑΓΩ February 25, 1927 University of California, Los Angeles National Collegiate 15 Active [9][10]
Alpha Iota Omega ΑΙΩ 1999 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Local Collegiate 1 Active [4][5][6][11][12]
Alpha Nu Omega ΑΝΩ November 3, 1988 Morgan State University National Collegiate African American, fraternity and sorority 23 Active [13][14][15]
Alpha Omega ΑΩ 1998 Young Harris College Regional Collegiate 7 Active [16]
Alpha Omega ΑΩ 1994 Western Michigan University National Collegiate African American, coed 8 Active [17][18]
Alpha Omega Theta ΑΩΘ July 16, 2002 St. Louis, Missouri. Regional Collegiate 6 Active [19]
Beta Alpha Gamma ΒΑΓ May 26, 2018 Illinois Local Community-based African American 1 Active [15][20]
Beta Sigma Psi ΒΣΨ April 17, 1925 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign National Collegiate Lutheran 12 Active [21]
Beta Sigma Theta ΒΣΘ 1973 Michigan Technological University Local Collegiate 1 Active [22][23]
Beta Tau Theta ΒΤΘ 19xx ?–1925 Pennsylvania State College Local Collegiate Methodist 0 Merged [24][a]
Beta Upsilon Chi ΒΥΧ April 27, 1985 University of Texas National Collegiate 37 Active [25]
Chi Alpha Omega ΧΑΩ April 1, 1987 East Carolina University Regional Collegiate 9 Active [26][27]
Chi Omicron Rho ΧΟΡ 2017 Pittsburg State University Local Collegiate 1 Active [28]
Delta Nu Omega ΔΝΩ December 27, 2015 Broward County, Florida Local Community-based African American, professional men 1 Active [15][29]
Delta Phi Xi ΔΦΞ December 2007 Tarleton State University Local Collegiate 0 Inactive [30]
Gamma Phi Delta ΓΦΔ March 21, 1988 University of Texas at Austin National Collegiate African American 18 Active [31][15]
Gamma Phi Lambda ΓΦΛ 202x ? Morton, Mississippi Local Community-based Active [32]
Gamma Psi Lambda ΓΨΛ October 21, 1999 Fort Valley State University National Collegiate African American, coed 8 Active [33]
Kappa Phi Epsilon ΚΦΕ 2004 University of Florida Local Collegiate 1 Active [34]
Kappa Upsilon Chi ΚΥΧ 1993 Texas Tech University National Collegiate 7 Active [35]
Lambda Sigma Phi ΛΣΦ 2000 University of Alabama Regional Collegiate 2 Active [36]
Megisté Areté Christian Fraternity MA 1989 Illinois State University Regional Collegiate African American 10 Active [37][15][38]
Men of God M.O.G. 1999 Texas Tech University Regional Collegiate African American 5 Active [15][39][b]
Mu Omicron Gamma ΜΟΓ September 9, 2001 Old Dominion University Regional Collegiate African American 3 Active [15]
Mu Sigma Chi ΜΣΧ October 24, 2008 Ferrum College Local Collegiate 1 Active [40]
Nu Alpha Omega ΝΑΩ 2020 United States Local Community-based African American 0 Inactive [15][41]
Omega Kappa Psi ΩΚΨ 1995–1997, 2017 University of North Carolina at Charlotte Local Collegiate African American 1 Active [42]
Phi Alpha Kappa ΦΑΚ 1929 Calvin College Local Collegiate Non-sectarian 1 Active [43]
Phi Kappa (see Phi Kappa Sigma) ΦΚ 1900 – April 29, 1959 Brown University National Collegiate Catholic 0 Merged [c]
Phi Kappa Chi ΦΚΧ 1988 Baylor University Local Collegiate 1 Active [44]
Phi Kappa Sigma (see Phi Kappa) ΦΚ October 1, 1889 – 1900 Brown University Local Collegiate Catholic 0 Renamed [1][d]
Phi Kappa Theta ΦΚΘ April 29, 1959 Ohio State University National Collegiate Non-denominational 57 Active [e]
Phi Lambda Phi ΦΛΦ 19xx ?–1925 University of South Dakota Local Collegiate Methodist 0 Merged [45][24][a]
Phi Tau Theta ΦΤΘ 1925–1941 Lincoln, Nebraska National Collegiate Methodist 0 Merged [24][f]
Sigma Epsilon Theta ΣΕΘ 1936–1941 Indiana University Local Collegiate Methodist 0 Merged [45][g]
Sigma Kappa Lambda ΣΚΛ June 29, 2014 Birmingham, Alabama Local Community-based African American 1 Active [15][46]
Sigma Theta Epsilon ΣΘΕ 1941–2022 Cedar Falls, Iowa National Collegiate Non-denominational 0 Inactive [45][h]
Tau Alpha Gamma ΤΑΓ 2007 United States African American 0 Inactive [15]
Theta Kappa Phi ΘΚΦ October 1919 – April 1959 Lehigh University National Collegiate Catholic, social 0 Merged [i]
Xi Upsilon Gamma ΞΥΓ 2022–2026 United States Local Community-based African American 0 Merged [47][15][j]
Zeta Phi Zeta ΖΦΖ April 11, 2001 Chicago, Illinois Local Collegiate African American, fraternity and sorority Active [48][15]
  1. Merged to form Phi Tau Theta
  2. Founded by a group of men who talked about God at a Step Show. MOG performs a yearly Step Show filled with mimes, dancers, and singers in honor of its beginning. MOG has grown but prefers to remain small, limiting the number of members in each chapter.
  3. It was called Phi Kappa Sigma from 1889 until 1900, after the discovery of an older society with the same name. It formed 40 chapters before merging with Theta Kappa Phi to form Phi Kappa Theta.
  4. Predecessor of Phi Kappa.
  5. Founded by the merger of the Catholic fraternities, Phi Kappa and Theta Kappa Phi. However, it is no longer just for Catholics.
  6. Merged with Sigma Epsilon Theta to form Delta Sigma Theta in 19,41 which changed to Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949.
  7. Merged with Phi Tau Theta in 1941 to form Delta Sigma Theta, which changed to Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949.
  8. Founded by merging two local Methodist-affiliated fraternities, Phi Tau Theta and Sigma Epsilon Theta. Originally called Delta Sigma Theta, but its name was changed to Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949. Became non-denominational in 1969. It had established 47 chapters before ceasing its operations.
  9. Catholic social fraternity that merged with Phi Kappa to form Phi Kappa Theta
  10. Merged with Gamma Phi Lambda.

See also

References

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  2. "Theta Xi Georgia Tech". Theta Xi Georgia Tech. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
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  4. "Alpha Iota Omega Files Suit Against UNC-Chapel Hill". FIRE: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Aug 24, 2004. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
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  6. "Alpha Iota Omega forgetting central tenets of Christianity". The Seahawk. Wilmington, North Carolina. March 18, 2005. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  7. "Redirected AllianceDefenseFund".
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  30. Owens, Brittany (January 31, 2013). "Disciples for Christ". the JTAC. Tarleton State University. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
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  37. "Megiste Arete Christian Fraternity | Established 1989— "The Mighty Men of God"". megistearete.org. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
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