If academia is largely liberal, arrayed as it is against the power exerted by money on political parties and the media, that performs not a warping influence on our intellectual landscape, but rather a balancing one. As we look at the world, that balance is sorely needed.

If we look at power, which is surely what is important, we see what interests are reflected. Inaction on our most pressing issues, such as inequality, the climate, biodiversity crises, even democracy, reflects not the views of a liberal academia, but rather the capitalist class.

I asked ChatGPT but it did its usual "This is subjective" thing, even when I rephrased to ask it "Who is generally considered the wisest". It also got hung up on the "non-religious" aspect when eventually recommending a list of humanists. I will check them out, but not what I was looking for