In his 1644 speech known as Areopagitica, John Milton defended the “liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” He did so in a time when various factions of society were seeking to quash that liberty.
Today, we are faced with the same threat as colleges and universities are threatened by forces that would limit our right to free inquiry and speech. The massive tax bill before Congress seeks to destroy these bastions by drastically hiking taxes, destroying their ability to give generous financial aid packages to poor students, not to mention limiting life-saving research.
More than 150 college and university presidents issued a statement denouncing the demands the new regime is making of Harvard and other schools to provide information on students and faculty, including their political opinions. Such demands reflect similar demands by authoritarian regimes on academic freedom throughout the world.
Prayer for the Day
Save us from the desire of politicians to control our freedom, O God,
From those who only have one viewpoint of right in the world;
Save us from small minds who would limit our search for truth, O Lord,
From those who believe truth is confined in a small box.
Grant that we live up to the spirit of our ancestors,
Those who struggled and died for the freedoms we enjoy.
In the name of the One who always asked questions,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Obedience to that letter [from Trump] would effectively spell the end of freedom of inquiry, even freedom of thought—in other words, the end of the university, which is always the first goal of autocracy
Richard F. Thomas, classics professor, Harvard
Their goal is to intimidate and break down institutions of higher learning in America because that is where most of the resistance to their authoritarian tendencies is going to come from.
Jason Johnson, Morgan State University, Baltimore
Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth, think of the Lord in goodness,
And seek God with sincerity of heart,
Because God is found by those who do not put God to the test,
And is manifested to those who do not distrust God.
Wisdom of Solomon 1: 1-2