A Harvard committee of faculty and undergraduate students suggested the general education curriculum of the college include the study of religion and the United States in a report released Oct. 3.
The preliminary report is the product of a three-year core curriculum review by the Task Force on General Education and is now up for review by the Arts and Sciences faculty.
President ad interim Derek Bok — who took office in July when former president Lawrence Summers stepped down — had made it a priority to conclude the review this year, according to the Harvard News Office.
In the report, the seven faculty and two undergraduate students on the task force outlined a new general education program for Harvard. Students would be required to take classes in five areas of study: Cultural change, science and technology, the United States, ethics and religion.
Courses suggested for future development include “Religion and Science” and “The Wars of Religion,” according to the report.
The report’s authors emphasized courses in the religious category, which is called “Reason and Faith,” are not meant to influence students’ religions. Rather, they would hopefully “help students understand the interplay between religious and secular institutions, practices and ideas.”
“Religion has played a critical part in human affairs and is worth thinking about and studying,” anthropology professor and task force member David Pilbeam said.
“General education is the place where we prepare people for the next phase of their lives,” Pilbeam continued. “Few universities look at what students need to know for life.”
Although students recognize religion as relevant to the world around them, many feel mandating religion classes are unnecessary.
Matthew Conroy, a senior at Harvard, acknowledged that ideologies affecting the world are worth studying if a student is willing.
“A compulsory class doesn’t make much sense to me,” he said. “The trend in college education should be to move away from constrictive core curriculums.”
College of Communication sophomore Manda Foo said she does not know whether religion courses should be required.
“Spiritual persuasion has no place in an institution of higher education,” Foo said. “But if it is studied academically, it is more for intellectual development.”
However, Foo said just because there is a reason to study religion does not mean it should be required.
The Boston University College of Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum — a limited program for CAS students to satisfy distribution requirements — was created to help students think carefully, speak persuasively and write powerfully, both personally and professionally in today’s world, according to CAS Core Curriculum Assistant Dean and associate history professor James Johnson.
“We want our students to apply their education to the world they know: a world of relationships, politics, commerce and commitments,” Johnson said. “I cannot imagine a better preparation for life after college.”
Johnson pointed out that Core does in fact address religion in classes covering topics from the Hebrew Scriptures to medieval Islamic works.
Although religion and philosophy are covered in Core, all CAS students are not required to take particular courses in religion, philosophy or ethics, said CAS Dean Jeffrey Henderson in an email.
Johnson and Henderson could not say whether a religion, philosophy or ethics class would be required of CAS students in the future.
“CAS departments look at what’s happening in all other liberal arts colleges world-wide, including Harvard,” Johnson said. “I think that the CAS general education program is superior to Harvard’s in being more comprehensive and having broader involvement of CAS professors.”