The Princeton Review recently used student input to rank the most and least religious colleges. Among the top five least religious schools were two that I applied to and one from which I graduated. Clearly, I was looking for a certain type of school. John Blake, on CNN's religion blog, calls it a "dubious honor." And I have a funny feeling most of us godless liberal arts graduates might consider it a point of pride. When I first heard of it, I felt that way. I love Vassar and I'm fond of saying it's the greatest place on earth. I was happy to be part of a liberal community of like-minded professors and peers.
But is that a fair feeling? Probably not. I've grown from having thoughtful religious friends. I've known incredibly liberal women who want to be pastors. I've met a nun who cares for homeless LGBTQ youth. I think the religious right has done a disservice both to the religious and to the right. I'm still proud of my very liberal, liberal arts education. I love that Vassar is shaping a generation of liberal thinkers. But as to whether or not they believe in god, well that's up to them.
Boo Religion! Hurray Reason!
ReplyDeleteWow Jake, very intelligent comment. So thoughtful and reasoned... :-P
ReplyDeleteI think one thing that has been interesting to me lately is the idea that atheism takes faith - you cannot prove that God does not exist, just as you cannot prove that He does. On some level, we are all taking our beliefs on faith.
Anyway, I miss our good talks back in the day. This also made me think....did I mention to you that I am a registered independent these days? I gave up on both these crazy parties. Too much divisiveness and not enough real thinking/working together. *Real* open-mindedness does not exist as a tenet of one party or the other, but in the ability of those in each party to consider that the other might have some good points and ideas, too. :-)
Hugs!
KJC