Andrew Carnegie and Religions

The other night I mentioned that Andrew Carnegie gave Harvard $500,000 requiring they sever their connection to their religious roots.  

 

Andrew Carnegie wrote to the Principal of St. Andrews University in 1905:

 
“The whole scheme of Christian Salvation is diabolical as revealed by the creeds. An angry God, imagine such a creator of the universe. Angry at what he knew was coming and was himself responsible for. Then he sets himself about to beget a son, in order that the child should beg him to forgive the Sinner. This however he cannot or will not do. He must punish somebody--so the son offers himself up & our creator punishes the innocent youth, never heard of before--for the guilty and became reconciled to us. . . . . I decline to accept Salvation from such a fiend.”

 

Carnegie had established large pension funds in 1901 for his former employees at Homestead and, in 1905, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to provide pensions for teachers; the foundation established the first widespread educational standards for the nation's colleges and universities. In addition, the foundation developed standardized, machine-scored tests, a function that merged into the Educational Testing Service in 1947. Because the foundation only gave money to secular schools, it was also responsible for the decision of many colleges to drop their religious affiliations.

 

People who lament the deterioration of religious education have to support religious education.

 

My guess is the groups that came out of the Restoration Movement the Disciples of Christ, The Christian Church and the Churches of Christ and their estimated 70+ subgroups make their version of Christian Education’s survivable doubtful. Each claiming allegiance to God and his son; each believing they alone understand truth; each believing the others are destined to hell.

 

Christians know exactly what it is like to be an atheist with respect to the beliefs of Muslims. Isn’t it obvious that Muslims are fooling themselves? Isn’t it obvious that anyone who thinks the Koran is the perfect word of the creator of the universe had not read the book critically? Isn’t it obvious that the doctrine of Islam represents a near-perfect barrier to honest inquiry? Yes, these things are obvious. The way Christians view Islam is precisely the way devout Muslims view Christianity. And it is the way atheists view all religions.

 

Might explain Carnegie’s attitude.