This article in today's Kansas City Star got me to thinking about the ethics of calling yourself doctor when you have not graduated from college as Dr. Jerry has done. I guess many ministers do it. The Schullers do it, Billy Graham does it, as do Jerry Fallwell and others ... of course I'm thinking most of these probably have bachelors degrees. Gotta wonder why people do it? Is the title all that important? Guess it's okay as long as they aren't writing any prescriptions :)
File this one under GIVEMEABREAK!
I actually do think it's important. Not because it's a "title", but because it gives the people the impression of a certian education level. Referring to yourself as "Dr." can give a false sense of trust in how much a person knows, has studied and that they've finished a degree program. (Which isn't always an easy thing to do, besides the smarts, it takes dedication and hard-work.)
ReplyDeleteI would imagine some of these people have probably been given a honorary doctorate from a college at some point in their ministry.