Confronting Reality

Also writing in the Crimson were two Harvard students who got it. They articulated what the editorialists could not or would not understand: "Studying religion," they said, "involves coping with unanswerable questions, confronting humanity's limitations, and thinking beyond oneself. No literature or science course can teach these skills." Nor can ethics be taught without a religious base. Remember Mr. Skilling of Enron, who is heading off to prison, was a Harvard graduate.

Happily, Harvard is waking up to the reality that you can't provide a decent education or even understand the modern world without understanding religion. Culture, after all, springs from "cult," that is, a belief system.

And while many Christians might worry just what a university like Harvard might teach about faith and reason, we ought to welcome the opportunity for an open, free debate. Then we Christians can present the evidence of our faith's positive effect on building the greatest civilization the world has ever known.