"It doesn't take a degree from Harvard to see that in today's world, a person needs to know something about religion...
...But in practice, the Harvard faculty cannot cope with religion...
...Steven Pinker, the evolutionary psychologist, led the case against a religion requirement. He argued that the primary goal of a Harvard education is the pursuit of truth through rational inquiry, and that religion has no place in that."
Newsweek
I never went to Harvard and couldn't have gotten in the door if I wanted to. That's why I'm a carpenter. And I don't know much about evolutionary psychology, either. All that aside, I'd like to suggest some light reading to the esteemed professor regarding rational inquiry, something that I'm sure wouldn't tax his superior and oh so rational intellect; The Summa Theologica by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
I'm growing increasingly tired and far less tolerant of these overly enlightened, erudite boors. They can't see past their personal biases and political causes and refuse to teach the information necessary to the student to correctly understand the world around them. Regardless of whether the professor believes in God or worships Marx the student needs to understand the religious beliefs of those around him if he wishes to understand how people think.
How can a person even begin to understand the American government without an understanding of Christian beliefs? How can one do business in the Muslim world and completely disregard Islam? How do you read Shakespeare or Mark Twain for that matter with no knowledge of the Bible?
Also, this prevailing idea that reason and faith are somehow diametrically opposed to each other is not only dead wrong, it is dangerous. It is used to dismiss all spiritual understanding of the world and our place in it. The fact of the matter is that a spiritual reality exists and to pretend that it doesn't is to be delusional. Does Harvard consider delusion to be an acceptable result of four years of higher education?
Matters of faith are testable and can be examined through the scientific method. Again, I would refer you to Aquinas. Until our educational system accepts and begins to teach the fullness of reality our students will suffer the deficit. Maybe our teachers need to focus a bit less on temporal education and a bit more on eternal wisdom. Balance in all things is essential, even in education.
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Tom,
ReplyDeleteAt my place of work I get to teached college-degree engineers who are supposed to know something. Invariably basic algebra, Newtonian physics and simply water chemistry is beyond their ability to grasp. So I am reminded that there are three kinds of college degrees:
BS: Bull$it
MS: Master $hitter
PhD: Piled Higher and Deeper
As Father Corapi has often said, we have been done educated into imbecility.
I thank God that I learned religion from a Dad who believed in memoerizing whole chapters of the Bible, Greek and Latin from old fashion tutors, and math, physics, chemistry, thermodymanics and electronics from tough, no bull$hit instructors in Naval Nuclear Power School.
It's a great incentive knowing that if as a submarine reactor operator you screw up that equation you might not make it back to the surface. You tend to take your studies damn seriously.