<p>“My concern at secular colleges is that many profs in the philosophy dept are atheists and spend too much time in some phil classes arguing that God doesnt exist. That is a waste of time to a believer.”</p>
<p>Not only is this egregiously false (the vast majority of professors in my department, for instance, are very observant Jews or Christians), its stupendously closed minded. You can’t study philosophy without addressing “secular” philosophers- almost none of whom have been atheists, and whose theories do not require the absence of god. Kant, Levinas, Arendt, Thomas Aquinas… And I was under the impression the catholic church was a fan of Aristotle’s work for quite some time. Furthermore, it is NOT a waste of time for a believer, from my understanding of faith, to have their faith challenged and strengthened as a result.</p>
<p>One of the first assignments in most intro classes is arguing for OR against the existence of god.</p>
<p>I find it interesting you’re familiar enough with every philosophy department at every university to slam them that hard.</p>
<p>All that being said, Christian Ethics IS a sub-field field (at many colleges its in religion), and entirely worthy of study. Those programs will obviously be stronger at Catholic schools. Notre Dame and Boston College are superb programs with somewhat more conservative leans, but will certainly have more liberals than a place like Dallas or Thomas Aquinas.</p>
<p>And Baelor, I was disagreeing with this statement: “Is every liberal student at Reed/New College/Columbia/Yale/etc. doing himself a disservice? Hardly.” But mostly in response to Reed and New College, less to Columbia or Yale (which are said to be more balanced, certainly, than the first two).</p>