A long-overdue first in America--and with a local touch, too

There is a fascinating article in the first section of The New York Times Sunday, pointing out that the US is finally getting one college in the country--one--that will offer a major in Secularism.


I found that stunning.


One college or university in the entire country.


It is Pitzer College in Southern California--Orange County.  It's part of the Claremont College group.


One college or university in the entire country that has a major in Secularism.


Not one at Harvard or Yale or any Ivy League school.  No where.


Ignorance, it seems, is bliss.


I assume no faculty dared advance such an idea, for fear of an uproar from any local or national religious groups.


From the article:


Colleges and universities have long offered majors in religion or theology. But with more and more people now saying they have no religion, one college has decided to be the first to offer a major in secularism.


Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts institution in Southern California, will inaugurate a department of secular studies. Professors from other departments, including history, philosophy, religion, science and sociology, will teach courses like “God, Darwin and Design in America,” “Anxiety in the Age of Reason” and “Bible as Literature.”


The department was proposed by Phil Zuckerman, a sociologist of religion, who describes himself as “culturally Jewish, but agnostic-atheist on questions of deep mystery.” Over the years he grew increasingly intrigued by the growth of secularism in the United States and around the world. He studied and taught in Denmark, one of the world’s most secular countries, and has written several books about atheism.


Studying nonbelief is as valid as studying belief, Mr. Zuckerman said, and the new major will make that very clear.


I thought this important, too:


“It’s not about arguing ‘Is there a God or not?’ ” Mr. Zuckerman said. “There are hundreds of millions of people who are nonreligious. I want to know who they are, what they believe, why they are nonreligious. You have some countries where huge percentages of people — Czechs, Scandinavians — now call themselves atheists. Canada is experiencing a huge wave of secularization. This is happening very rapidly.


“It has not been studied,” he added.


So good on Mr. Zuckerman and Pitzer College.  This should be studied and, as I said in the title, it's long overdue.


Now, for the local link:


Mr. Zuckerman said he immediately heard from three students interested in the major. One of them was Kiley Lawrence, a freshman from Mission Hills, Kan., and a pre-med student at Scripps College, one of the seven Claremont Colleges.


Ms. Lawrence attended an Episcopal school through eighth grade and was well versed in the Bible, but she said she became a skeptic early on. Now she plans to declare a double major in biophysics and secular studies, because, she said, “each enhances the other.”


Ms. Lawrence, 19, said, “I feel as though I’m being included in something really exciting and innovative, and perhaps even historic.”


And good on you, Ms. Lawrence.  Pave the way for the future.


Links:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/us/08secular.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=us
http://www.pitzer.edu/