Religion and Privacy

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It seemed inevitable that someone would use the issue of a University Chaplain as a vehicle for his own highly objective views, and, in the anonymous letter published in the CRIMSON on May 7, this has occurred.

After saying that he regards "with equal respect--if not affection--those who worship Reason, Christ, Jehovah, a Mammon," the author of the letter goes on to make the statement, "the churches surround the Square, along with the movies and bars, for those who need to escape," The degree of respect involved here seems rather negligible and the degree of objectivity even more so.

Boiled down, the thoughts of the Eliot House student, as he expressed them in his letter, are these:

1. Religion and education are incompatible.

2. The only worth-while method of worship in worship without an intermediary.

3. Formalized worship is an escape, and an indication of weakness in those who participate in it.

Whether or not these views are correct, the main objection to this person's entire line of thought is that, invoking the name of liberalism and free thinking, he is in actuality practicing a dogma more absolute than that found in any religion. Certainly the presence at Harvard of a resident University Chaplain and an elective course in religion cannot be construed as an invasion of Withheld-by-Request's privacy, intellectual or otherwise. Charles B. Flood '51