The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 37, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Page: 6 of 8
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ViewsWednesday
The Optimist
Page 6
February 19 2003
C A -A. 1 J 2C InWyWonta
Jf M1UU1U uiiuy
student Chapel
complaints
Daniel Barcrqft
H
OUR VOICE
M The time Is
M now far the
m Students' Asso-
AV elation to be the
BF students' voice.
ky Many members of
' the student body agree
that something is wrong
with Chapel but agreement
ends there.
Some don't like the idea of a
possible grading
scale for Chapel.
Others don't like
break-out Cha-
pels. Those who
organized the al-
ternate chapel
Tuesday think
students aren't
involved enough
with the process.
The Optimist
and others have
criticized its
worship-only
direction. B
Some stu-
dents even have the silly idea
that disrespectful students
shouldn't be removed from
Chapel.
All this disagreement reach-
es die ears of an administration
that cannot seem to please
everyone at any time between
11 and 11:30am.
But the administration in
McKinzic Hall needs to hear
something from the student
body that resembles some-
thing other than a shouting
match
And that's why SA is in a
prime position to enhance its
image and reputation with the
student body.
In a week SA will discuss a
Chapel bill the wording of
which will be determined by
survey results collected by the
Constituant Relations Com-
mittee this week and next. The
student body is in need of a
leader to filter the Chapel
debate into a cogent coherent
argument that is presentable to
the administration.
This bill
could make SA
such a leader. A
task force on
Chapel already
exists in SA
and for weeks
it and Congress
hac remained
silent as the
student body
debates. That
silence must
end
Instead SA
must make a
strong stand
advocating for the students.
The students don't like Chapel I
and something needs to be .
done about that.
But what don't the students i
like and what change would be '
best?
Those are the questions SA
must answer next week and
those arc the answers the
administration must hear this
semester.
If SA does this it will prove
itself a competent leader able
to effectively speak for the stu-
dents. Congress' own reputa-
tion is in its members hands
and the time for action is slip-
ping away.
The SA Chapel
task force and
Congress have
remained silent
for weeks as the
student body
debates. That
silence must end.
In Your Words
What do you like or dislike most
about Sing Song?
"I like all the free food I get from everyone s parents who
come to visit during Sing Song
MarhObton
junior elementary education major from In Inc. CahJ
"I don t like having to move my feet and hands at the same
time because I always fall over"
JtnnHtr LoscIm
senior youth and family ministry ntajor from St Louis
"I wouldn't know because I have never been in Sing Song "
Chris Martin
sophomore Christian ministry major from Mntene
"The thing I dislike most about Sing Song is choreography
because I m really awful at it So I had to go to a remedial
choreography course that took an hour and I had a four-
hour Sing Song practice that night"
I . .. .- ti$t)$B-
WimSmWiffil VtfO TALKING B00Tf!mWfflfflB
TfySjgH .dLH amja H99H
'Marriage Factory' stereotype promoted
p
jrnhman youth and family ministry major from Amanita
As I Wish
SklanicJ Knox
I promise
that I am not a
feminist. It's
great that wo
men can vote and hac equali-
ty in the workplace but I
I invent ever been the one on
the picket line screaming in the
streets And I'm still not.
However when it comes to
Sing Song 1 noticed something
a little ironic about the themes
of the two largest women's club
acts. Bridesmaids and house-
wives We'll come back to that.
Stcreotypically ACU is
known as a "marriage factory"
Women supposedly (and prob-
ably) come to school here for
the sole purpose of an MRS
degree.
We have "Marriage and
Family" week in Chapel.
Seminars and lectures are con-
ducted for cou
ples only. Just
last week cam- j nntlrfA
pus notes sent n"-U
out an e-mail somethinc ironic
lln.l 'Tn. O
about the two
"Cn-
cntitlcd
gaced?'
.. i''Tn'i0" largest women's
is great lm so o
glad that ACU Club aCtS.
cares about peo- niAlA A
pic entering into
marriage. That's
important.
The funny
thing about the jokes and
stereotypes is of course that
they arc usually half true.
This is evidenced by the pre-
viously cited examples and
housewives.
now as icing on the cake Sing
Song as well
I want to get married some-
day and being a housewife
might be fun
too Placing
these things in
the "Infinite
Joy" category
however rings
a little bit differ-
ently. The junior
class act that I
am a part of
classifies infi-
nite joy as
"Nutcrackers."
Granted this
isn't my idea of infinite joy
cither and neither is traveling
the Beatles and certainly not
golf. To get right down to it at a
Christian university we should
all be doing Sing Song acts
about our salvation stories and
eternity. That could obviously
be strange and I am certainly
not suggesting we do that.
All I am doing is merely
pointing out the irony in a large
number of students who wit-
tingly or unwittingly chose
Sing Song acts that push a
stereotype and this I think is
funny.
Don't mistake this column
as bashing the clubs They
sound great and their acts are
very cute and I actually think
the housewives do become
business-women in the end.
But this weekend when
you're stressed about school
and stressed about perfecting
infinite joy don't be afraid to
smile at the irony of a good
joke.
True worship letting God take control
I'm a senior here about to
start working on my fifth car. I
was here during the time that
most people currently call the
'good davs" of Chapel. I
remember during those times
that there were just as many
upset letters pouring into the
Optimist every week complain-
ing about Chapel issues all of
them with a similar theme.
Some students seemed to
want Chapel to become more
personal and worship-centered
Other students screamed
that Chapel should not be
mandatory. I personally
remember getting upset over
GUf
the lack of respect given to
Chapel by other students talk-
ing or leaving early. We all
wanted different things fixed. It
seems to me that Chapel has
been trying to go in that direc-
tion and now we have a whole
new group of faults to find with
it.
Chapel suffers from two
main problems. Tirst it's very
dangerous to do anything
every day even something you
OUR VOICE
enjoy I remember as a kid say-
ing that I could cat piza every
day. Now that I have that
chance I sec how wrong I was
No matter how great Chapel
gets simply doing it everyday
takes some of the luster off of a
good-sounding thing
The second major problem
with the Idea of Chapel Is that
no matter how hard you try
and make it a group worship
environment when you get
down to it worship is a person-
al thing done in a room with
other people. When we try and
change worship to lit our own
individual preferences then
we mess them up for some one
else. It's a catch-22 just one of
those things that will never be
perfect.
Chapel will never be perfect
ever. We should keep trying to
make it better but not to the
point of bickering Inside of a
loving community. True wor-
ship happens when we let go of
what we want Chapel to be and
let God take control. It belongs
to Him anyway.
Bradley Campbell
senior psychology maor from Abilene
'Just War Theory' reveals Iraq war may not be inevitable
In order for us to consider a
war moral or immoral we
(Protestants Catholics and the
rest ofWestern Civilization) tra-
ditionally turn to St. Augus-
tine's "Just War Ilieory"
The question then becomes
if action against Iraq falls under
that theory. President Bush
believes that the use of force is
supported by this theory to
prevent Saddam from the
obtaining and possible use of
weapons of mass destruction
Many religious leaders who
oppose war insist that such
action is not supported by the
theory.
Some Insist that pre-emptive
action cannot be defen-
sive and that prior to another
actual act of aggression by
Saddam just war principles
limit the United States to diplo-
macy. Others would say pre-emptive
action is "defensive" when
it is motivated by a reasonable
belief that a proven aggressor Is
in the process of equipping
himself with the military
means to carry out further
aggression with impunity.
Few people doubt that
Saddam is seeking to enhance
his chemical
and biological
arsenal and to
acquire nuclear
weapons.
Tew deny
that he will if
and jus in bello ("justice in the
midst of war.")
Bishop Wilton Gregory
president of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bi-
shops has asked "Should not a
distinction be
drawn between
efforts to
change unac-
ceptable behav-
ior of a govern-
ment and
Our prayers
should be with
the four million
successful use VhivIc tUat unnU efforts to end
these weapons ai WOU1U tna g0VCrn.
to terrorize become Hussein's ment's is-
omer nations in ft r tence?"
the region and Mrst target Ot Some would
ttrrnr sayinauiisrea'
force his will on
them
Many other "l"
religious leaders support such
action against Iraq including
Robert Royal president of the
Taith and Reason Institute.
Royal believes that the United
States can engage in this war
and maintain jus ad helium
("justice on the way to war")
sonable to
believe that
removal of Saddam Hussein
will produce an Iraq more
committed to freedom and the
welfare of its people and in the
near future to an Arab region
more focused on the economic
and social well-being of its
people and the equal role of
women in their societies
If Saddam submits to truly
unconditional inspections and
if United Nations inspectors
are able to eliminate his illegal
weapons and demolish his
weapons manufacturing infra-
structure then an invasion of
Iraq would be unnecessary
and therefore unjustifiable.
At the same time given
Saddam's record of aggression
and duplicity no one should
assume that military force will
not in the end and under the
Just War Theory prove neces-
sary. Beyond our country and
leaders our prayers should be
for those four million Kurds
that live within the borders of
Iraq that would become
Hussein first target of terror if
the USA and Iraq become
involved in military conflict.
J Reese Campbell
junior political science maorf
rom Brownwood
Editorial and
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Optimist and may not necessarily
reflect the views of the university or Its
administration
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re the opinions of their creatort and may
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Please limit letters to 350 words or
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included for verification purposes Phone
numbers will not be published
Address letters to
ACU Box 27892
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 37, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 19, 2003, newspaper, February 19, 2003; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101811/m1/6/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.