Crazy cowboy philosopher and Columbia Department Chair Professor of Religion Mark Taylor came out swinging today with a New York Times opinion piece condemning his own job. The longtime gloom-and-doom prophet of educational decay made his stand against the tenure system, calling it a financial and intellectual blunder and accusing its defenders of acting purely out of self-interest.

Yet for Taylor, a man who once claimed that, “Graduate education is the Detroit of education,” these are soft words. And at least he has an alternate plan—seven-year renewable contracts for high-performing professors.

We shot Taylor a few questions about his seven-year plan. He responded: “The seven year idea is my own and I have been promoting it for more than a decade.  It does not have a chance at Columbia or most other places.”

Tenure…it’s a movie!

Photo via operacijagrad.org

On Thursday afternoon, Liz Jacob, Bwog’s Charitable Affairs Bureau Chief, ventured into the bowels of SIPA to report on a lecture by Jason Hackworth, associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Urban Planning.

Hackworth opened his discussion with a brief analysis one of field’s most popular buzzwords—neoliberalism. Often decried by a public looking to the state for social reform, neoliberalism features the principle of limited government. Indeed, the apparent lack of intervention in issues of public welfare is almost universally seen as a “failure” of government.

Prominent in today’s news media, the “broken” state is a scapegoat for all social deficiencies in the public sphere. As a result, conservatives and liberals alike have come to increasingly support the development of private charities as an antidote to governmental failure. Here, Hackworth identifies specifically the prevalence of faith-based organizations, or FBOs.

Liberals and conservatives alike have increasingly come to support to development of private charities as an antidote to governmental failures.  According to Hackworth, faith-based organizations (FBO’s) are the most prominent of these private organizations, and can be seen in four ways: as extensions of the state, enhancements of the state, catalysts for change, or alternatives to the state. Faith-based organizations receiving state funding are limited to secular work, and consequently, they function along the lines of NGOs.

Those who support an increased religious presence in governmental affairs argue that FBOs are superior to public works organizations. Following this line of reasoning, faith-based organizations can also serve to inspire political change or, even more radically, serve as a replacement for state welfare programs altogether.

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If you were all hyped up for the “conflict” part of last night’s Veritas Forum “Faiths in Conflict: Searching for a Common Space,” you may be disappointed by the friendly banter between secularist Heyman Center Director Akeel Bilgrami and Sri Lankan theologian Vinoth Ramachandra. Bwog correspondent Sarah Ngu reports on their discussion of how to build foundations for tolerant, mixed-faith communities.

Akeel Bilgrami wanted to avoid a “polemical evening,” so the first thing he did was distance himself from staunch atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. He called the pair “some of the most distasteful people on the intellectual scene today” and compared them to religious fundamentalists. You’ll only get the intellectual play if you know that both men claim that labels like  “Muslim,” and “Christian” can only be used to describe extremists. If you go to church and say your prayers at night, you’re either a heathen or an atheist in denial

Ramachandra expressed brief sympathy for “militant atheists” like Hitchens and Dawkins, noting that, if only exposed to televangalism early in life, he would not be a Christian today.  He then lamented with Bilgrami the dearth of serious books on religion in bookstores and picked a bit of a fight with what he calls “American tolerance.” Since Americans who disagree with each other are so content with their own beliefs, they don’t engage with each other on religious questions and don’t leave their own beliefs open to revision.

True tolerance is what Ramachandra calls a “political secularism”: Cultural groups must, without surrendering their core values, challenge their members to be self-critical and practice an empathetic appreciation for others. A group managing this may contribute to public wellbeing, religious diversity, and global peace. According to Ramachandra, faith can provide the proper grounds for a “politically secular” space even for the marginalized. To him, the core message of Christianity is that God identifies with the marginalized. Thus Christians ought to care for “the dregs of the world,” as he says they have done in the past, leading the abolition and labor movements.

Professor Eisenbach, moderating, asked a blunt question of the speakers – “Where do human rights come from?”

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Bwog’s very own Christ-fearing cinephile Mark Hay is back (or resurrected, you might say) with this week’s film recommendations.

Bwog did not get a chance to talk with the Westboro Baptist protestors this Thursday – the police would not allow that simple liberty. Neither, one would expect, would these protestors have been willing or able to articulate themselves without some reference to Bwog as a godless heathen. Which is absolutely true, but one need not remind us constantly. It is in light of this inability to communicate with our dear Kansan friends that Bwog offers up three movies on religious extremism – one through the eyes of the believer, another the manipulator, and the last from the confused and out of place (just like us).

Jesus Camp (2006)

An astounding documentary by directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing in which the zealots get to speak their peace uninterrupted and unperturbed, “Jesus Camp” follows three devout Pentecostal evangelical children on their journey to and stay at Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire School and Ministry” in Devil’s Lake, ND. Read more…

Photo by JYH

Please pardon the late start this morning (or afternoon); after Bwog’s graciously-attended birthday party last night, we’re a little sleepy.  All that Pin the Tail on the Donkey, you know.

But the news does not pause for hangovers, and Primate of the Bwogosphere Jon Hill has spotted an exciting opportunity to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu and “bestselling historian” (and Columbia grad student of yore) Thomas Cahill “speak on the moral imperative to end the death penalty.”  The talk, free and open to the public, takes place this Wednesday at 7 PM at the Riverside Church.

The discussion will focus on Cahill’s new book, A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominque Green (no, not the Bond villain).  Green spent twelve years on death row in Texas, during which both Cahill and Tutu advocated (unsuccessfully) for him. It promises to be a thoroughly moral evening. 

Carved into the marble outside Butler Library:

Although COBOP leader applications are due today, as of yet no evidence has come to light implicating the freshman orientation program in this or any other acts of bicycle worship.

School’s back in session and the economy’s in the tank. These are two simple truths. Now, plunged back into our workloads and faced with the utter futility of our studies, the lack of a bright tomorrow (though maybe a bright next-decade), it’s easy to despair.

Well, despair not, because this week Bwog presents three films to put some old-fashioned religion into ya. Or at least to keep you anesthetized and away from your word processor for a few hours. Enjoy.

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Barnard religion professor Randall Balmer just guaranteed himself best-selling author status.

Appearing on The Daily Show last night to plug his latest book, God in the White House, Balmer talked with host Jon Stewart (and his well-heeled audience of 2 million) about how religion has shaped the modern American presidency. Balmer argues that voters have become much more concerned than they used to be about their presidents’ religious views and, in particular, how public those views are made.

“For many Americans, most Americans, religion is a proxy for morality,” Balmer told Stewart. “What we really want to know is are they moral, are they good people, and the only way we can frame the question is, ‘Do you go to church?’”

Stewart also asked about the possibility of electing an athiest president: “What will come first, black, woman, Hispanic, gay, Jew, atheist?”

“I think pretty much in that order,” Balmer quipped.

The full video of the interview can be found on The Daily Show site.

The December issue of The Blue and White — our Denominational Domination issue — will be on stands (and online) later this week. In the meantime, here’s something to read besides your old class notes. 

“O Ye of Little Faiths” by Alexandra Muhler

While Columbia is an institution regularly accused of godlessness, our Student Governing Board (SGB) allocates considerable funding to faith-oriented student groups. The three largest religions on campus have robust memberships and budgets, though there’s no correlation. According to SGB data, here’s the breakdown: Hillel (2,000 members, $35,100 budget); the Muslim Students Association (700, $19,500); Columbia Catholic Undergrads (354, $10,800). The Bhakti Club, despite associations with the off-the-beaten-path Hare Krishna sect, claims 170 members, making it the fourth largest campus club of its kind.

Then there are the true minorities. This year, the Jehovah’s Witnesses just managed to claim its 14 members, the bare minimum for SGB recognition, and declined a request to participate in this article. Other small groups present on campus include the Seventh Day Adventists (20 members, $500 budget) and the Baha’i (39, $2,485), who didn’t respond to interview requests. The Unitarian Universalists have a campus chaplain but no club. There is no Scientology club; most individuals who practice the religion stay closeted.

Below, meet a few the loneliest practitioners in Morningside.

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We were dismayed to receive the following Concerned Email from Nussbaum resident Allon Brann this afternoon.

Brann, like so many unsuspecting students, attended the Nussbaum incarnation of ResLife’s Thanksgiving free-food giveaway. But “the holiday offering of cider, pie, whipped cream, and candy is merely a front for a sinister aim:  the indoctrination and eventual conversion of the non-believers among us,” he said.

You see, the candy corn distributed by ResLife is not candy corn at all! Nay, it’s Scripture Candy (“Reaching the World on Piece at a Time!”), and every package includes a Biblical quotation. (See above for two examples from Corinthians and Romans.) Brann’s package featured the following: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s Romans 5.8, and Allon Brann is not pleased.

Also of note: the Scripture Candy Company labels the candy corn “Harvest Seeds,” when they are abosutely not.