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Furman University in Greenville, SC, a school that was founded as a Biblical Baptist educational entity in 1826 by Bible-believing Baptists has reconstructed a Japanese Buddhist Temple on its campus and will use the religious edifice as a "center piece of an Asian studies program," new-age classes, and "oriental meditation, reflection and introspection."

The temple was originally built in Japan in 1984 and used as a Japanese "family’s private worship place." The temple was "disassembled and shipped overseas in shipped four 40 foot containers" in "2,400 pieces" that were individually marked and "reassembled by 13 specialized temple artisans from Japan." According to the news report, Furman University "raised $400,000 for the temple’s reconstruction and maintenance."

In the spring 2009 semester, a class entitled "Realizing Bodymind" will be taught inside the temple’s small facilities as part of an "Asian wellness Practices" project. In 1991-1992, this school officially separated itself from state and national Southern Baptist Convention connections, severing a relationship that had existed since the school’s formation.

Special Note: FU’s early history can be traced back to Dr. Wm. G. Furman, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Charleston, SC, who was also elected as the first president of the first national Baptist missionary society in America in 1814, an organization that was formed to assist Adoniram Judson’s missionary endeavors in Burma after he converted to N. T. Baptist principles.

Furman University is another classic example of a once formerly Fundamental School that has gone apostate. To learn the tragic historical process on how/why this sad debacle occurs, secure the F. D. editor’s new book: Why Do Fundamental Schools Go Apostate? Check elsewhere on the Web page for purchase details.