So they just want to “demonstrate” degrading another religion if anyone’s curious what it looks like. :>)
I can hear the pride in your writing about your son. You should be. He sounds like a prize. Tell him one stubborn retired chaplain you know says that the Army (of my era) wouldn’t even have allowed a “demonstration” of what a degrading program would look like.
The reasons with the Army would have been (1)”morale and discipline” and (2)ethics/morality. It would have injured unity.
They have no such unity to preserve at Harvard, so that’s one thing. They do have a set of moral/ethical standards, though, and I’m betting this pushes them right up to the breaking point.
Look, to us Catholics, Protestanism often looks like a denigration of Catholicism, especially around this place, where anti-Catholic bigotry is prized and protected. I remember one poster in particular who degraded the Holy Mother of God by commenting on her toilet habits in the most disgusting and filthy way. Said poster was quite welcome here on FR while degrading Catholic faith, practice, and belief. It was only when said poster started getting in the proprietor's face that he was banned.
I have seen the Blessed Sacrament ridiculed and mocked by many herein, called a "cracker," a "cookie," and other terms that are, I assure you, offensive to many Catholics. Even within this thread, Catholic belief in the Eucharist is belittled. I look at these "satanists" with their "re-enactment" of a black mass, and then I look at some of my "fellow" posters, and the differences appear to me to be of degree, not differences of kind.
In fact, let's face it, for several hundred years, the only official view of the Church was that Protestantism degraded Catholicism. But we all figured out (mostly) how to live with each other, and (mostly) don't go to war with each other, anymore. I like it that way. My son's dating a Lutheran (strict LCMS) girl, now (although she's promised to convert). She seems like a very nice girl; I'd hate it if my son couldn't date her because her denomination holds that the office of the pope is the anti-Christ.
Pride & my son - Maybe. Maybe not so much. Joy. Joy and gratitude. It's beyond my capacity to believe that I bear much responsibility for how my two sons have turned out. It's all grace.
Harvard has its own spirit and its own unity. But intrinsic to that spirit is that of free inquiry. Harvard is an exceedingly liberal place. It's an ocean of political liberalism and political correctness, and the vast majority of those who swim in it don't recognize the water for what it is. For my son, the environment is, in many ways, toxic (although it's toxic for reasons other than its liberalism).
But the school, in spite of its overwhelmingly liberal character, has tried hard to be open to all, including CONSERVATIVES, of which there are more than a few.
Harvard, itself, is not participating in this event. It isn't sponsoring it. It isn't accommodating it. The event's costs are being borne privately by the students making it happen.
I doubt that Harvard will somehow force the issue and have the event canceled, for reasons outlined previously.
However, it is my understanding that there will be a response from other quarters in the Harvard community. And Harvard, the university, the administration, will be hands-off toward that response (as long as everyone stays inside the law - you can SAY what you want at Harvard, but if you DO things that are illegal, the community doesn't tolerate that so well - look at the recent protests regarding fossil fuel divestment).
sitetest