He has outgrown a crude and semi-magical concept of God, such as a child may properly hold, with no realization that grown men mean by religion something both more delicate and more complex. As a lad he was a Presbyterian. As a man he knows nothing of the profound and penetrating studies of religion made by the Scottish theologians, or by such American Presbyterians as Dr. Buttrick and Dr. Coffin and Dr. W. A. Brown, to take only three outstanding examples. His university should have brought him into contact with religious thinkers comparable to those whom he has met within the fields of science, history, and art. They mystical side of experience and its contribution to an understanding of the universe are not commonly regarded by American universities as necessary fields of undergraduate study.
Religion has next to no place in their curricula, or in their other official activities.
This is, or ought to be, a matter of common knowledge, but an instance in point may be cited. In 1925, at Harvard, the Student Council appointed a committee to look into and report upon certain aspects of education at that university from the undergraduate point of view. This was done, and the findings of the student committee were published in the Harvard Advocate for April 1926. Among other things, the report recommended that a new kind of required course be made available which would include the study, not merely of philosophy, but also of religion. The committee of students made many excellent suggestions, and almost all of them have subsequently been adopted by Harvard College, including the one mentioned.