American culture just dodged a bullet. It would have been a near fatal shot in the heart of Enlightenment.
Thank God Havard rejected mandatory religious studies in its new undergraduates curriculum.
Harvard University said on Wednesday it had dropped a controversial proposal that would have required all undergraduates to study religion as part of the biggest overhaul of its curriculum in three decades.
Efforts to revamp Harvard’s curriculum, which has been criticised for focusing too narrowly on academic topics instead of real-life issues, have been in the works for three years.
A proposal for a “reason and faith” course requirement, which would have set Harvard apart from many other universities and made it unique among its peers in the elite Ivy League, was unveiled in a preliminary report in October.
“We have removed ‘reason and faith’ as a distinct category,” a faculty task force said in a revised report, excepts of which were obtained by Reuters.
“Courses dealing with religion – both those examining normative reasoning in a religious context and those engaging in a descriptive examination of the roles that religion plays today and has historically played – can be readily accommodated in other categories,” it said.
No shit, Sherlock. They can be obtained in numerous specialty courses offered everywhere. But they should never be rammed down every freshman’s throat as mandatory requirements to attend college. It is abusive theological endoctrination.
I have been holding my breath on this one, waiting to see if another of the great liberal institutions of America would fall and be subverted by the so-called “religious right” movement. This would have been a profound victory for the Evangelicals and would have also signaled the first break in the liberal armor of the great insitutions of the Ivy League. Such a crack, just as in a dam, would have gradually eroded and doomed the institutions in a tidal wave of repression.
Course requirements at America’s eight Ivy League schools vary widely, but if Harvard’s proposal for a “faith and reason” requirement had been accepted it would have been the only one where a course in religion was required.
The whole demand for enforced religious endoctrination just crawls under my skin. It is the very pinnacle of anti-Americanism. It stands in direct defiance of everything the Constitution stands for and enshrines.
See, I took tons of religious courses when I studied philosophy. I have two minors in philosophy and a further specialty from having won a philosophy scholarship to the University of London. Beyiond that I have privately studied every religion on earth. I mean every one. I have read the original texts in every religion, from Buddhism down to Zoroastrianism. I was intrigued and wanted to know. I even found some utterly wonderful, like Baha’iism or Zen, while all have unique things to offer and intrinsic truths, whether it be Islam or gnosticism or hinduism. Even blue-skinned Krisna makes for a great read, right Arjuna?
That was my choice though. I studied them all on my own time and signed up for advanced studied as I advanced in my readings and experience. It is completely wrong to force a young person to study religion, especially when the slant will always heavily be on one. I don’t believe for a second that such generic courses can be truly universal and balanced. They are almost always forced to be thinly veiled Christian endoctrinations with a few asides at what is “weird” about those other “alien” religions. For instance, in my own state, there was a recent firestorm of protests that grew increasingly violent when a state university tried to teach a course on Islam due to its obvious current relevance in our ongoing war and international relationships. But the religious right went ballistic and said they would never allow such satannic evil to be taught in America. Only the Bible should be taught, etc. Of course, in the end, after threats, marches, boycotts, and every other form of intimidation, the school withdrew the course. Most ironic of all, the course in this case was to be a voluntary specialty course. But no matter to the forces of ignorance and intolerance. They demand everyone learn the Bible or no one ever learn anything else. So there is a perfect example of “inclusiveness” in their opinion.
Teaching one way of thinking or the belief in only one “truth” is a church’s responsibility. Such narrowminded dogma has no place in a university. Universities stand for the opposite of closed minds. Reason is the name of the game.
I am absolutely thrilled that Harvard saw the light and withdrew this mandatory religious endoctrination. Reason has prevailed.
Well, at least for now. We’re still having to reestablish the doctrines of science and reason in this country. I have no idea why, but even facts are being undermined and turned into something like opinions by the onslought of the evnagelicals. It is the strangest and yet most dangerous thing I have ever witnessed. Science and reason are the bedrocks of advanced civilization. Evolution, paleontology, physics, chemistry, etc. These are bedrocks factual areas of knowledge that improve, explore, and explain life. I have yet to see what good burning witches at stakes or denying that the solar system exists does. Unreasonable narrowminded restricted thought cannot aid anyone at any time.
Knowledge is everything. The freedom to think is a blessing. The freedom to think freely is a right.