Harvard Godless? Not So Long as Voluntary Chapel Is Retained, Declares Chairman of Board of Preachers

"Christian associations may pray all they want for 'godless' Harvard," said the Reverend Edward Caldwell Moore, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Chairman of the Board of Preachers when told yesterday that such was the report. "I am inclined to be amused at the whole affair.

"Harvard is not dominated by any Y. M. C. A. or other organization of that sort. The emphasis here is more on individual thinking and rational religion.

"We don't like standardization of ideas and ideals. And we have no compulsory chapel. These things give other colleges the impression that we are 'godless.' We thank them for praying for us; but we call our conception higher.

"Compulsory chapel would be as distasteful to the officers of Harvard as to the students. Perhaps if I were running a preparatory school I should have chapel made compulsory, but not in a college. At Yale the turmoil during the service is terrible. For a popular preacher the best that can be expected is a general semi-quiet reading of newspapers. And that is because of compulsory chapel.

"Here, every man who attends chapel does it because he wants to. Thirteen colleges may have got down on their knees at Indianapolis to pray for us, but prayers and advice are not likely to made our chapel attendance better or worse."