Word: spirited
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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This last sentence summarizes the dominant spirit of the College, even for the believers. Demos's method in teaching Phil. 1 reflects the divorce of believing and teaching which characterizes much of the faculty's approach. Demos admits frankly that he is "a believer," and he says furthermore, "Everybody who believes something should try to convert everybody else. I don't believe you should try to dissociate belief from the missionary spirit...
...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...
...book, Religion, Politics and the Higher Learning, Morton G. White, professor of Philosophy, emphasizes the differences between inculcating any type of belief and discussing religion in the same critical spirit with which philosophy is taught. White claims that teaching religion in any meaningful manner involves teaching a particular religion. Since the non-sectarian college is not prepared to do this, he argues that it must confine its instruction to teaching about religion, which "no more constitutes teaching people to be religious...than teaching about Communism amounts to propagating...
More than this, however, there exists a clear pervasive spirit of questioning, skepticism, tolerance--in sum, an apotheosis of relativism and tolerance. At Harvard the values of relativism are quickly transformed from means to ends, from mere method to metaphysics. They become the "practical postulates" of a University which wants to embrace spokesmen for opposing views in a harmonious institution. Even the religious person, moreover the believer in salvation through a particular church, must divorce his role of believer from his role of teacher. If he would teach he cannot by direct methods fish for souls...
Agreement comes from David Riesman, Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences: "It is less fashionable to be cynical about religion," he said. "There is fun poked at the return to religion, but this is part escapism. Students are more open, less in the spirit of Mencken...