The Religion of Secular Professors
Harvard might not recover
By now, you know that Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has resigned. This is after she was unable to condemn antisemitism on Harvard’s campus when questioned before Congress. She was also accused of over 50 instances of plagiarism in her academic work.
If you read articles in “The Chronicle of Higher Education” after her appearance before Congress, you would see defense after defense of her inability to give a simple answer. You would have read articles saying things like, “Not giving a direct answer is the academic thing to do,” “We should expect academics to be nuanced and to not have moral clarity,” “An academic needs more context to answer that question,” and more along those lines.
As a religious studies scholar, what stands out to me about the social justice movement among secular professors is how overtly it imitates religion. Ben Sasse, in his recent article in “The Atlantic,” likened it to a cult. There is the same refusal to self-examine, to see evidence against its core beliefs, and the same bullying of those who do not conform.
What I notice is that the secular professors cannot help but bring in obviously religious performances to school business. In my school’s faculty meetings, the director begins with the recitation of a creed (Native American Land Acknowledgement). That creed also includes a confession of sin (we are on land that is not ours, and we are not treating the land well). This is followed by a homily on social justice and how my school is helping to contribute to social justice. There is a missionary zeal for advancing these beliefs among students.
It is a religion of works righteousness without God, redemption, or anything transcendent. The adherent is measured on how well they are advancing social justice goals in their classrooms, on campus, and in the surrounding society. The meaning of one’s life and work is determined entirely in relation to vague expressions of “making the world a better place” and “helping humanity,” which are measured by DEI standards.
Many professors abandoned Christianity for this secular religion. But with nothing transcendent, no personal immorality, no unchangeable standard on which to judge good and evil, and no hope of redemption, it ends in meaninglessness and despair.
The resignation of Harvard’s president once against raises the crisis of secular university education. What ultimate meaning can a student expect to discover when the religion of the secular professor is so empty?