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ERIC Number: EJ775632
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 8
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
Faith and Reason on Campus
Adler, Norman
Liberal Education, v93 n2 p20-27 Spr 2007
According to a study of student religiosity conducted by the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), 80 percent of students express a strong interest in spirituality. They are not only spiritual, but they are also religious. Over half of all students attend religious services at least once per month. Indeed, according to the UCLA study, eight students in ten attended religious services during the past year. Almost eight students in ten believe in God. The recent proposal by Harvard University's general education committee for a "Reason and Faith" requirement was part of an effort to move toward a values-centered curriculum. The proposal was withdrawn, following rationalist critique, as being too narrow, but for some, the entire curriculum was too values-oriented. In almost every curricular reform, there is a point of contention over the sciences or other positivistic disciplines. So, there may be a bit of a conflict on campus. In this article, the author takes a look at a few works that have been disseminated widely in the academic community. It is not really faith versus reason as process, but the subject of each. Reason is a set of mental operations (studied by cognitive scientists) that are used by organisms to derive conclusions or hypothesis from certain premises. It is the premises that are in question. The argument does not really pit faith against reason. Rather, it concerns whether both can be legitimately applied within an individual's worldview. Religion is not just about faith and reason. It is also about emotions, self-examination, social perceptions and evaluations, and prejudices. The "solution" to the faith-reason debate--at least for the university--is not to solve it, but to study it and to let it enrich the curriculum.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A