Panel Disagrees on 'Commitment' Of Faculty in 'Secular' University

"There should be no official University policy in regard to religion," Jerome S. Bruner, professor of Psychology, said last night at a forum entitled "Religion in the University." About 300 people crowded into the First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, to hear the discussion.

"Regardless of its origin," Bruner argued, "the pursuit of a University is secular." He stated that the search for truth "is damaged by commitment based on faith," and that, therefore, the University should not express official opinions on religious matters.

Bruner said that different creeds should exist together, in a common striving for "veritas." He added that the Divinity School should be a "repository of great myths contending with each other."

Paul J. Tillich, University Professor, disagreed with this conception of a Divinity School, stating, "A theological faculty represents the universal character of religion by representing one concrete religious attitude."

"If religion is to be taught constructively," Tillich stated, "the faculty must be unified." He also said that this united basis could succeed only if free criticism was allowed.

Commenting on the recent opening of Memorial Church to people of all faiths, Donald C. Williams, professor of Philosophy, stated, "The move was a gesture in favor of religion only in the sense that polygamy is a gesture in favor of romantic love."

Williams contended that, "It is fantastic to ask whether Harvard is in the Christian tradition," since it is "a matter of historical record" that it is. He also said that the Divinity School should be "free of harassment from the left and right--from the godly and ungodly."

The forum was planned by the Congregational-Presbyterian Student Fellowship and was moderated by Mason Hammond '25, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature.