Bryan College, a conservative evangelical Christian school in Tennessee, has made a controversial change to its statement of faith that led to the departure of at least two professors and sparked a furor among students.

For years, Bryan’s faculty and staff have been required to sign a statement of faith that said, among other things, that “the origin of man was by fiat of God in the act of creation as related in the Book of Genesis; that he was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical and spiritual death.” Yet the college’s president and board of trustees tweaked the wording to say the following: “We believe that all humanity is descended from Adam and Eve. They are historical persons created by God in a special formative act, and not from previously existing life forms.”

The faculty and the college’s Student Government Association have protested the move.

“We believe the current motion will alienate faculty, our brothers and sisters in Christ, by requiring them to affirm a negative on an ancillary matter of faith,” read a letter by the association in the student newspaper. “We believe there has not been sufficient counsel sought, as per Proverbs 15:22, of those the college has hired specifically for their breadth of wisdom.” (Inside Higher Ed)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.