Ryan Burge is a data analyst who synthesizes information about religion and politics in the United States. He publishes his findings and observations regularly on Substack. Last week, he wrote an article titled “How Weird is the Religious Composition of Harvard’s Student Body?” In it, he examines the results of a poll Harvard conducted of this year’s freshman class.

According to the poll, nearly half — more than 46% — of Harvard’s freshman class identifies as “atheist” or “agnostic.” Burge explains how much of an “outlier” Harvard’s student body is compared to the general U.S. population, in which only 12% self-identify as either atheist or agnostic.

But Burge also points out how different Harvard’s student body is from other college students. He references a survey of 55,000 college students at more than 250 universities conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. According to the FIRE survey, only 21% of this year’s freshmen consider themselves atheist or agnostic.

Even more striking to Burge was how few Harvard freshmen are Protestant Christians. A 2022 Pew Research poll showed 43% of all Americans consider themselves Protestants. The FIRE survey of college students shows that fully 30% identify as Protestants.

In doing some of my own research, I came across the results of a 2015 Pew Religious Landscape Study on atheism in America. Pew’s data offers some insight into the composition of Harvard’s first-year students; fully 40% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say they are atheists. The numbers drop dramatically in older groups of Americans: Among 50-64-year-olds, only 14% are atheists. What really struck me was a question Pew asked about “belief in absolute standards of right and wrong.” Those polled could choose from two options: The first was, “There are clear standards for what is right and wrong.” The second was, “Right or wrong depends on the situation.”

Fully 83% of American atheists chose the second option.

I thought immediately of the testimony given by the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard last week at a congressional hearing investigating antisemitism on American college campuses. When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” was “bullying or harassment” under university policies, Penn’s President Elizabeth McGill refused to answer affirmatively, calling it “a context-dependent decision.” Sally Kornbluth of M.I.T. and Harvard President Claudine Gay were equally noncommittal.

I have no idea what these women’s religious beliefs are or are not. But I find their testimony notable, in light of the Harvard poll, the Pew data and the shocking behavior the country has observed on college campuses since the Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200-plus Israeli Jews by Hamas terrorists.

The reluctance to admit to objective standards of right and wrong smacks of arrogance and pride. “It depends upon the context” sounds like “It isn’t wrong unless we say it is.”

The expression “pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” — from the book of Proverbs — is a lesson here. The outrage has been so great that McGill resigned her position at the University of Pennsylvania.

Even if Gay or other individuals remain in their positions, the institutions themselves will suffer the consequences. Harvard and other institutions of higher education are (within legal limits, of course) free to foster the culture they want. But Americans have no obligation to support that culture — at Harvard or elsewhere — either by financial donations, sending their children there, or hiring their graduates.