Science is a way or method of “measuring” this and that. So Science itself never can be said to prove anything or say anything. Rather, it is individuals who do that, and in a technologically-saturated world become accepted “authorities”. When a “scientist speaks” we prick up our ears.
But should we not also prick up our guardedness? What is the scientist’s religion or creed, for no human being can be devoid of an identifiable way of looking at the world and interpreting life? For example, atheists believe; they believe there is No God. They don’t stand up and recite – I believe in no God, no father almighty, no maker of a non-existent heaven and earth, etc. They don’t do that. But like everyone else, they have to ask the Big Questions about existence, what Paul Tillich termed “anthropological questions”.
Europe’s universities were all founded by Christians for religious purposes, as were America’s earliest colleges. Harvard, for instance, whose motto is Veritas (Truth) was founded to train clergymen. Yale (Lux et Veritas – Light and Truth) came into being to counteract the Unitarianism which marked Harvard, and Princeton (Dei Sub Numine Viget (Under the Name of God let her flourish) was an orthodox Calvinistic reaction to theological slippage at Yale. In New York City, Kings College (later Columbia) was Anglican. Its charter mandated the use of the Book of Common Prayer in its Chapel.
All of these universities, and others have been secularized to the point where the Christian faith is now seen as an enemy of sorts. A large segment of the faculty are unbelievers. Unambiguous Christians have, in effect, been silenced, which means that young people are subjected to a propagandistic experience which is bad for their souls.
Don’t send my boy to Harvard, the dying mother said… Don’t send him to Princeton, I’d rather see him dead.
The doggerel goes on to recommend the University of Pennsylvania and has nothing to do with Religion, but it suits our purpose here.
A good education enables the Big Questions to be addressed, which means that there is an abiding need for Christians to be involved in Education.
