Paul Wilczynski's Observations

"Religion" does not equal "stupid"

Nate Knows Nada, in listing some advice for fellow academics at Harvard, includes the following which particularly resonated with me:

"Religion" does not equal "stupid." I have noted this before. Plenty of very intelligent people are religious; I'd like to think that I am a decent example here. Plenty of the religious aren't particularly dumb. In fact, they may be more educated in some forms of social life than many secular academics. Many Christians and Jews know more about literature than secular people, because they have a background in the scriptures that provide much of the inspiration for that literature. Could many contemporary American Christians stand to bring more intellectual rigor and questioning to their faith? Yes, of course. But who is there to teach them, if we as academics tell them that their religious life is incompatible with the life of the mind? For one thing, it's not true, and for another, we fail them if we don't teach them how to think over what to think. Finally, academic credential or progressivism or both do not equal intelligence -- I've heard plenty of stupid, stupid, stupid reasoning come from the pens and mouths of the progressive and the academically credentialed. Sometimes, my fellows academics, "the Christians" are smarter than you.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 1:26 PM