Relations with Falwell disrespectful

To the Editor:

As a 1993 graduate of ASU who lives in Texas, I do not have the opportunity to get in to Boone very often. However, this week when I was in North Carolina, I took a day out to visit and see all the changes on campus I have only been able to witness on the Internet.

While in town, I picked up a copy of The Appalachian and was frankly appalled that the university continues to maintain a relationship with Liberty University, especially after [Rev. Dr.] Jerry Falwell’s comments following the events of Sept. 11.

Chancellor [Francis T.] Borkowski’s rationale that “we must respect (Jerry Falwell’s) right to free speech and freedom of religion guaranteed by our Constitution” on the surface sounds as if ASU is taking the high road in this situation.

Actually, the move is pretty gutless in that ASU is just rolling over and saying, “We don’t care what you believe and say, how harmful you are to whole classes of people. We will continue to support you and your university anytime we share gate revenue with you in athletic competition.”

It makes me sick to my stomach, especially since I am one of many gay alumni of ASU. I will think twice before I EVER give one red cent to this university as long as ASU continues to sell out for the almighty athletic dollar.

Rev. (and I use that term lightly) Falwell along with Pat Robertson and others of the radical religious right espouse the takeover of the American political system and the conversion of the justice system based on “Biblical principals”.

They would advocate the use of punishment based on Levitical guidelines, which are no better than the Islamic courts of nations in the Middle East. Xan Harrington’s statement that Reverend Falwell was “making a non-violent statement pertaining to his religious beliefs” is really naive at best and ignorant at worst when those beliefs are examined in depth.

It is my hope that the SGA and Xan Harrington will re-examine this issue and re-submit the request to Chancellor Borkowski. ASU has no business “doing business” with the likes of Jerry Falwell and Liberty University.

Respectfully,
Evan R. Smith
ASU 1993, B.S. Psychology
4702-C Bradford Dr.
Dallas, TX 75219

Fallwell, Graham no better than bin Laden

To The Editor:

Just when the flap over the [Rev. Dr.] Jerry Falwell remarks seemed to be waning, another one of America’s religious conservatives has moved to center stage. In what can only be described as an ill-conceived, ill-timed and insensitive statement, Franklin Graham jumped
into the fray with his description of Islam as an evil religion. The God of Islam is not the same God [as the God of Christianity,] one must assume finishes Graham’s thoughts.

Who owns God is an interesting debate for a world that professes to be modern. In fact, America struggles to be modern, even at the dawn of the 21st Century, and people like Falwell and Graham do not help us in the
quest.

They are the American bin Ladens, not because they engage in direct acts of terror, but because they represent and promote a way of thinking about the world that are both un-modern and anti-modern.

They are the American bin Ladens because they teach hate and intolerance in the name of a book that captures the hearts of the unenlightened mass in search of meaning.

The books are different, but the methods of all bin Ladens are the same. Words are selectively taken, distorted, and turned into a message of hate and intolerance. And, so the story goes, the words must be true because they are God’s words.

Such medieval notions have no place in the 21st Century. A literal interpretation of Biblical text is not consistent with the methods of inquiry that were developed and maintained since the earliest days of the Enlightenment.

Today, we expect to see truth demonstrated to the senses. Without that, the book is just a story by humans and about humans, as they adjusted to the necessities of their ancient world. Since the invention of the printing press, the world is full of stories. Our adjustment to the world is an ongoing endeavor.

The fact that such ideas find fertile soil in America is testimony to the failure of both the educational systems and the socialization mechanisms present in this society

Dr. Andrew M. Koch
Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice