Word: secularity
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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What appears from this and related questions is a separation of ethics from religion. Originally the foundation of moral systems, religion, to these respondents at least, has lost the claim of sole ownership to the ethical beliefs of the secular society. Asked whether they "believe that correct ethical principles are grounded on religious faith, and that a genuine knowledge of man's moral obligations necessarily involves a belief in God," only 28 per cent of those believing in some Divine presence replied in the affirmative. Seventy-nine per cent of the believers felt that the ethical opinions of atheists...
...common agreement the University is "secular" and its teaching function toward the undergraduate demands that religious preconceptions be discounted as much as possible. Gilmore gives an example of the different ways in which a church and a university handle momentous intellectual questions: "Augustine would never say to Pelagius, 'Let us examine your position on grace, Pelagius...'as Socrates would say to Thrasmymachus, 'Let us examine your position on virtue.' The atmosphere of the University," Gilmore holds, "must be the Platonic rather than the Augustinian...
...relativism which Harvard fosters is reflected also in Faculty members' views on courses on religion. While there is enthusiasm for courses about religion, there is agreement that courses in religion would be abhorrent to the spirit of the modern, secular Harvard...
...Tillich, then, a University must by its very nature transcend mere secular considerations; it is an institution dedicated to matters of ultimate concern. For teachers with less of the Tillichian "vision," however, the questions of religion in education appear more controversial, for they are bound to earthly considerations of sect and creed...
General unanimity seems to exist that Harvard is secular, despite its Protestant Divinity School. Harvard's present secularist position, though, represents the end product of a long evolution, and the vestiges of earlier evidences of a sectarian and religious past have sometimes caused friction...