Word: religion
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...that Harvard began to move away from its theological foundation and towards a humanistic philosophy of education that emphasized reason and intellectual freedom. The modern research university Harvard is today is the culmination of this secularization. But with recent headlines such as “Harvard committee proposes compulsory religion course for undergraduates” showing up in major international news outlets, one might question whether the decision to include a “reason and faith” requirement in Harvard’s new general education report was circumspect and in lockstep with the College?...
...distorted the semantics of “reason and faith” by portraying the requirement as a religious apology. It is not. No course required will focus on eulogizing the Holy Trinity or touting the wonders of enlightenment and nirvana. The Task Force on General Education merely considers religion an important facet of the world that “Harvard’s graduates will confront in their lives both in and after college” and wants to help students “understand the interplay between religious and secular institutions, practices, and ideas.” Under...
...such a component would be perceived. The media has already repeatedly alluded to Harvard returning to its Puritan roots. Even if the College somehow manages to remove this stigma of association with English Protestantism, it still risks being pigeonholed as giving undue emphasis to the study of religion and being grouped with parochial schools...
What the College should instead recognize is that “reason and faith” need not be included as a separate “area of inquiry and experience.” Existing courses in religion can already find a comfortable niche in one or more of the other categories delineated by the Task Force, such as “Cultural Traditions and Cultural Change” or “The United States and the World: Historical and Global Perspectives...
Furthermore, the very interdisciplinary nature and ubiquity of religion suggests that one need not even take classes that explicitly address the topic in their course titles to acquire perspective about its applicable significance. It is hard to imagine how one could take a class on American government and fail to struggle with religiously-charged political issues such as stem cell research and school prayer or how one could take a class on European history without grappling with clashes of religion in the Crusades or the Reformation. The case could be made that undergrads need to experience a more catholic variety...