Why is Harvard's Atheist Chaplain National News


It makes sense that the 40 or so faculty members at Harvard who are designated as chaplains elected as their Chair an atheist who is a full time Chaplain there. Harvard is regarded as an intellectual powerhouse world wide. This is national news because it represents a new reality.

If you were to guess, how many atheists are included in this year's Harvard freshman class? If you guessed 40% you would be correct. Thus, it makes sense for the other Chaplain's to select an atheist--that Chaplain will have more students listening to him than any of the others.

As Mark Silk, the Methodist professor and writer pointed out, Harvard has a long history of secularity. Even though it was established to train preachers it soon because a place that disregarded them.

It is said occasionally in this blog's discussion page the discipline called Philosophy can prove "there is a God." There are 21 members of the Department of Philosophy at Harvard. I would be willing to wager there is not agreement among those faculty that philosophy has proven "there is a God." Perhaps not one of them would agree with this statement.

I did not count them but there is a small army of professors in departments we traditionally call "science" at Harvard. It is stated often in the comments and in the media that "science proves the fertilized egg is a human being." I can guarantee none of that small army of prominent scientists at Harvard has ever made the statement "science proves the fertilized egg is a human being." That, of course, is because the scientists at Harvard know what every other rational person knows, the notion a fertilized human egg is a human being is a religious, not a science based, notion. 

Of course, no one is required to beliefs that are the same as the professors at Harvard. Each of us, however, has an obligation to be truthful. It is not true that "philosophy proves there is a God" or the "science proves one fertilized egg is a human being." Truthful people do not make these statements. Only those whose religious zealotry has taken over their minds do so.

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