Letter to the Editor

 Religion at LMU: The deeper debate
Re “Should LMU change my religion?” by David Morris and “Anglicans in the Catholic church,” by Katherine Lash
Dear Editor,

The Nov. 9, 2009 edition has two items that are worth looking at closely: Mr. Morris’ “Should LMU change my religion?” and Ms. Lash’s Letter to the Editor. Mr. Morris wonders why religion is done in an academic setting, yet Ms. Lash’s letter shows precisely why such studies are needed.

Ms. Lash does a great job making the case that the Church’s policy on priesthood does not “feed into” sexism and homophobia. However, her argument does not tease out the truest crisis in the Anglican Communion, which is not the battle about who settles doctrinal disputes (the Canons are quite clear on that), but rather the increasing independence (dare I say Protestantism?) of the American Episcopal Church. Presenting Roman Catholicism as the alternative to American Anglicanism (African Anglicans, for example, are quite conservative on issues of gender and sexuality) suggests a false dichotomy. The history of Episcopalianism with an eye to the battle between high-church and low-church Protestantism would be more fruitful in dealing with the problem.

Which leads us to Mr. Morris’ lament. How can one make an informed, educated decision about the current Catholic conversion strategy without having studied the history of Christianity or a more general history of religion course? Religion is an anthropological fact, and is therefore just as necessary as philosophy, science and art (these terms used broadly). In fact, several of Mr. Morris’ comments show precisely why such an education needs to stay at LMU. (For example, he laments the lack of an Introduction to the Torah class, although the Torah is well-covered in any Introduction to Old Testament class!)

It is easy to give opinions about religion; it is much trickier to explore why human beings are religious to begin with. As long as the latter remains tricky, it has its place in the academy.

Brad Elliott Stone
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Director, University Honors Program