Say again!?

I suppose if I worked on it, I could tease out of one corner of my mind some sense of this news. But I think the following item is bizarre. It's drawn from page 2 of the Winter 2007 issue of the Spectrum, the apparently aptly named alumni magazine of the Yale Divinity School (YDS):

One of the most dynamic new student groups at YDS draws from a long
unrepresented constituency at the divinity school: nonbelievers. They are the
Left Behind, a group of agnostics and atheists who aim to provide a "caring and
inclusive atmosphere to those who already subscribe to our beliefs," ion the
words of Matt Riley '08 M.A.R., who helps lead the group.

I don't quite get why an atheist would want a graduate degree in religion -- and especially why he or she would go to a divinity school to get it (even Yale's). How does one proceed to earn a degree when one denies the very premise upon which the education is built -- viz., the reality, in some, way, shape, or form of a "divine"? I understand that the (presumably) young man is in an academic program, not in the M.Div. sequence. But still ... .

I don't know whether to be happy or not that when "Riley approached the dean of students about organizing likeminded students," he "received an encouraging response." Come on now, folks, isn't that leaning a little heavy on the inclusivity staff?

Wednesday of Holy Week

In preparation for the Triduum, I invite your visit to this site, a kind of virtual Stations. Some of the works of art are quite moving.

And I offer blessings for memorable Pascha.