Science is the litmus test on the validity of the educational enterprise. If a school teaches real science, it’s a pretty safe bet that all other departments are sound. If it teaches bogus science, everything else is suspect.... I want a real college, not one that rejects facts, knowledge, and understanding because they conflict with a narrow religious belief. Any college that lets theology trump fact is not a college; it is an institution of indoctrination. It teaches lies. Colleges do not teach lies. Period.These words were written by [English] Professor William Crenshaw who used to teach at Erskine College of Due West, South Carolina. Erskine is described as a [conservative] Christian liberal arts college which, to my mind, is an oxymoron! How can a college be liberal -- in any sense of the word -- when the most important document on campus is a book written centuries ago by nomadic tribesmen?
~ from A Dissenter Is Fired in Inside Higher Education via Pharyngula ~
While I find Crenshaw's statement to be oversimplified -- the business department easily could teach the glorious nature of disaster capitalism -- he does make an astute point. If the Christian Bible and a parochial view of such is used as the seminal guide in all departments, everything "taught" will be skewed.
It's one thing for adults to choose a church of their liking and to attend it with the greatest devotion. It's another thing, however, to send young adults -- for a hefty price, I bet -- off to college to have their minds indoctrinated with a rigid view of the world. If you think your religious viewpoint is sound, then it should standout on its own. It shouldn't be afraid of getting lost in the crowd when compared to other world views.
For me, this is one of the greatest sins of fundamentalist thought, religious or otherwise. It originates from a place of fear. Fundamentalist institutions don't want their adherents (or their adherent's children) to be exposed to the panorama of ideas this world has to offer because they fear that their key tenets will not win out! They fear that others ideas and conceptions will make more sense and be embraced.
You say the Bible is written by Nomadic Tribesman. Whats funny is that so are many Taoist texts. Lao Tzu lived in the Zhou Dynasty, at the time China was controlled by dozens of tribes and warlords, the ancient China we often see in movies and such didn't come around until the Han Dynasty, 500 years later. Zhuangzi lived in the Qin Dynasty, where scholars like himself were often persecuted by the state. Just a little history.
ReplyDeleteVery true, but I don't claim they are divine!
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