Totally Bitchin’ Class of the Day

Below is the course decription for a religion class at Vassar offered this Spring by Professor Jonathon Kahn:

210b. Does the Secular Exist? (1)

Is there a distinct realm called the secular, which is free of and from the religious? As sons and daughters of the Enlightenment, we’ve come to think that there is. What sort of philosophical and historical moments have led to the public insistence on a non-religious space? What projects in ethics, politics, and identity have the insistence on the secular authorized? This class both analyzes and contests modern assumptions about secularism and the religious, and asks whether the ideals of secularism have materialized. Is it possible or even desirable to create realms scrubbed free of the religious, in our politics, in our public institutions, or in ourselves?

This sounds like a course that every person should take, whether you think our gov’t should be secular, or think religion should inform and influence our laws.  At Vassar, as school previosuly ranked highly for “ignoring god on a daily basis”, it is doubtful that you will get many people arguing for the latter.