A lecture by a retiring professor was focused on the idea of healthy religious systems and their need to be open to the other faith options.

Professor Bill Millar started working in the religious studies department in 1984. His choice for his “Last Lecture” topic came from his first years of teaching.

Millar’s lecture was presented on Wednesday evening in TJ Day 219 and sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations.

The audience consisted of mostly friends, colleagues, church group members, and some students.

His lecture had two parts, part one was about the written records of religion and part two was about the archaeological records.

For the written records portion, Millar referenced ancient societies and their religions.

“Don’t try to run around and convert everyone. Allow space for everyone to be,” he said, “We can learn from these multiple perspectives and make the world a better place.”

Killing people and conquering them will do nothing, the people will still need to be taken care of and supplied. Millar used Isis as an example for this.

The world is in a state where we simply need to get along with one another, Millar said.

When Millar reached the archaeological records he said, “Trees equal life.”

For many, a puzzled look came across their faces. He explained that the trees on ancient pots are similar to goddesses because of their nature to nurture, like trees.

“If our fixation on Monotheism were to be relaxed it would help us deal with climate change,” he said. Humans are an environmental whole and they should embrace change, he added.

“It was interesting. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I liked the ideas of revisiting our old ways. Some people are afraid of change, but you can still believe the same thing and acknowledge change,” said Arielle Mazzuca,’18.

He said, “White people are becoming a minority, if they haven’t already. They are losing power with their ‘one-way’ systems of viewing the world, also known as Monotheism.”

Millar explained that humans, as a whole, should keep our minds opens to reality.