In the inaugural post of this ongoing exploration of the relation between secularism and liberal arts education, Jonathon Kahn, Paul MacDonald, Ian Oliver, and Sam Speers describe their initiative “Secularity and the Liberal Arts” as an attempt “to get at the purpose and nature of liberal arts education by asking what it means for a liberal arts campus to unabashedly call its practices “secular.”

Is there a way, we wondered, that by spending some time thinking critically and honestly about this crucial term—one that ostensibly governs our practices—we might get a better handle on the nature of liberal arts education?”