I was so pleased and proud, 10 years ago, when my alma mater selected as its president a brilliant woman who, it was noted quietly, was not religious. When, oh when, might our benighted country have the intelligence and maturity to do the same?
So I was surprised to see, in her Jan. 18 President’s Page article on “Religious Diversity at Princeton,” President Tilghman’s enthusiastic approval that the campus is “humming with multi-faith activity.” “With the help of 15 chaplains, ... students are encouraged ... to deepen their religious faith.” Why would someone who has no religious faith herself be so pleased to see her charges delving deeper into dogma?
It’s understandable that we should exhibit toleration to those who come to college imbued in a religious tradition; we should do all we can to make them feel welcome and comfortable. But our first obligation is to teach and uphold Enlightenment values. All religions, in some aspects of their theologies, are anti-Enlightenment and anti-science, and no bastion of higher learning should be afraid to point that out.
President Tilghman doesn’t mention any organizations that support and give comfort to students who are not religious. Are there no such groups on campus? I would be surprised if students with no religious faith didn’t comprise a significant segment of the student body. Should they not also be afforded “a climate of mutual respect”?