The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 12, 1951, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    HH
An Editorial
RE Week and Freedom . . .
W/E PAUSE to praise a freedom.
” On this, the first day of the 1951 Religi
ous Emphasis Week, it is only appropriate
that we look at the worth and status of an
important aspect of our American heritage.
Freedom to worship—what does it mean?
This basic freedom of our country is most
often defined as the freedom to worship
whatever diety we choose in whatever way
we choose at whatever time we choose.
It applies to all Americans whether they
profess a creed or not. It gives each of us
the right to define as we will what might be
called the “mysteries” of life.
No one can demand that you worship
God. No one can demand that you go to
church.
Outsiders might look on such a princi
ple as a hindrance to religion, a form of dis
couragement of maintenance of creeds of all
sorts.
They fail to take into account, though,
the strength of religious ideals in the heri
tage of this country. Search for religious
freedom is a well-established motive for col
onization of this country. And one must read
only seventeen words of the Declaration of
American Independence to find a reference
to a supreme power.
The Constitution contained no reference
to religion or creed. But the first of its
amendments, a prerequisite to its accept
ance, guaranteed all citizens freedom of reli
gion.
Man’s desire to worship as he pleases has
been one of the guiding forces in shaping the
destiny of this nation and of the world.
That is why, as we enter our own Reli
gious Emphasis Week, we reaffirm the
strength of this freedom..
Like all rights, however, this one carries
its responsibilities. Two of these bear con
sideration now.
The right to choose your religion or lack
of one runs hand in hand with the duty to
do so wisely. Every assistance is put at your
disposal to do so. These next few days, es
pecially, offer you the chance either to re
assure yourself of the wisdom of your choice
or to find a basis on which to choose.
Religious Emphasis Edition
Battalion
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF A GREATER A&M COLLEGE
Another companionate duty to your bas
ic right requires that you respect the reli
gion of others. Here, again, the coming week
allows you a basis for understanding the
other man’s religious point of view. Such
understanding is a prerequisite to tolerance
toward that point of view.
Cherish your rights and take advantage
of them. But be sure to earn them, too.
Truett Was First of Many
Eight Year-Old RE Week
‘Smooth Going’ Says Gay
By GEORGE CHARLTON
Prominent national and state
leaders had been assembled on the
campus. Dr. George W. Truett, one
of the most renowned religious
leaders of the nation and former
president of the Baptist World Al
liance, was scheduled to make the
principal addresses. And students
had been dismissed from classes
in order that they might attend
the special sessions. In the Spring
of ’42, the A&M Campus was in
deed ready for its first Religious
Emphasis Week.
Rev. Grady Hardin
ChapaJwood Methodist Church
Houston
“And since that time, everything
in regard to the affair has worked
out just fine,” says J. Gordon
Gay, associate-secretary of the
YMCA.
If these annual occasions have
been successes, and many times
they were outstanding ones like
last year’s program with Doctor
Henry Crane as main speaker, one
man is largely responsible for
them being that way. He is Gor
don Gay, the “pusher” of RE
Week.
Gay picks out speakers each
year for the week, handles his
own correspondence with them, and
arranges with the College to get
them here. He finds places for
them to stay, speak, and eat. In
his numerous endeavors, he is as
sisted by the Inter-Church Council,
made up of two representatives
from each of the faiths around the
campus, two representatives from
the YMCA Cabinet, the corps chap
lain, and the president of the
YMCA Cabinet.
Gay organized the council in
1942. And his wife cooks all meals
for the group at its numerous
meetings.
According to Gay, the R. E.
Week of ’42 was not like the same
program as we know it because 9
years ago the get-togethers of
students and religious leaders were
“church centered,” and attendance
at any talk or session depended
directly upon the popularity of the
main speaker.
Not Always Rosy
Everything in regard to RE
Week hasn’t been quite so rosy,
however. Gay tells of the time a
scheduled speaker was involved in
an auto accident on his way to
College Station.
There had been a cloudburst and
ultimately a storm, the highway
had been slick, and the car had
slipped off the road. The somewhat
bedraggled speaker finally arrived
on the campus,, a little late—his
clothes were sopping wet. But,
he spoke that night in clothes bor
rowed from three generous staff
members.
Plane Mix-Up
Last year, M. L. Cashion, secre
tary of the YMCA was on his way
to Houston about this time of year
to pick up Dr. Henry Crane, main
speaker for the week. Crane had
telegraphed he would fly in that
night. After Cashion had been on
the road for about half an hour,
Crane phoned to Gay that his
plane had been grounded in Mem
phis and that he would have to
catch the first plane for Dallas.
In the meantime, Cashion was near
Navasota.
Gay phoned towns between Col
lege and Houston and had the po
lice force alerted to catch Cash
ion when he passed their way.
Cashion was stopped, notified of
the change of plans, turned around
and drove on up to Dallas that af
ternoon.
Last year was the first time
RE Week was completely campus
centered. In ’48, similar services
and addresses were held in Septem
ber. Between ’43 and ’46, the af
fair was discontinued, as were
(See RE WEEK, Page 2)
COLLEGE STATION (Aggieland), TEXAS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1951
Price Five Cents
‘Happiness Must Come
From Within’—Elliott
By CURTIS EDWARDS
“Many people miss happiness because
they are looking for it in the wrong places.
They turn to harmful indulgences only to
find in the end that they had missed the
way to any true and abiding joy.”
With this thought, Dr. William E. Elliott,
pastor of the Highaldn Park Presbyterian
Church of Dallas, opened A&M’s ninth an-
Religion Necessary For
Well-Rounded Individual
nual Religious Emphasis Week with his talk
on “Are You Wanting Happiness” given this
morning in Guion Hall.
Dr. Elliott will speak each morning this
week in Guion according to the following
schedule: Tuesday at 10 a.m., Wednesday
and Thursday at 11 a.m. and Friday at 9 a.m.
Classes will be dismissed for his talks.
“Happiness is a by-product,” Dr.
Elliott continued, “not so much a
conquest as a consequence. It is
the inevitable fruitage of a life
rightly handled and rightly lived.
One does not get happiness by
straining at it, but by fulfilling the
conditions of a happy life.”
. . . began A&M’s' Religious Emphasis Week program this morning
at 10 in Guion Hall with a talk entitled “Are You Wanting Happi
ness?” The pastor of the Highland Park Presbyterian Church of
Dallas is principal speaker for Religious Emphasis Week. He
will speak again in Guion tomorrow at 10, Wednesday and Thurs
day at 11, and Friday at 9. All classes will be dismissed during
these hours.
I HOPE every student, faculty and staff member of
1 A & M College will avail
themselves of the opportunity
to hear the outstanding minis
ters and lay-leaders who will
be on our campus during the
annual Religious Emphasis
Week.
We need to develop and
strengthen our religious
thoughts as never before, and
we cannot become well round
ed individuals without sound
religious training.
Religion is an essential part
of our daily life, and we hope
this week of emphasis on re
ligion will help us all grow
spiritually in order to lead
richer and fuller lives.”
the
‘F’ Secretary Gets
Aggie RE Ideas
President W. D. Ma, •ring/a
By CURTIS EDWARDS
If you were asked what is the
religious attitude of the average
Aggie, or what spiritual and moral
problems bother him—could you
give an authentic answer?
Perhaps many of us could guess,
but there is one man on this cam
pus who could tell us and provide
the material to prove it.
He is J. Gordon G'ay, associate
secretary of the YMCA and the
man behind Religious Emphasis
Week.
Gay has been studying and> try
ing to solve “Aggie problems”
since 1928 when he came to A&M.
This, of course, is one of the pur
poses of the YMCA, and it is in
connection with this study that
Gay composed what he calls his
“Interest Locator” questionnaire.
He has gathered a series of
questions through the years that
cover most of the problems con
fronting 1 A&M students. Through
selection by the students, Gay
can determine the specific na
ture of the average student’s
problems.
The interest locator originated
long before Religious Emphasis
Week, but this is the first year it
has been used in deciding what
subjects to stress during this week.
Results from canvassing 2,115
students show that from Gay’s
comprehensive list of twenty-four
subjects, the four most popular
are: Men and women relationships;
Do Scientific facts and the Bible
agree; What should a student get
(See SECRETARY, Page. 2)
Religious Philosophy
Books Available at Y’
A generous assortment of theo
logical and “thinking” books will
be available for buying and brows
ing beginning today in the YMCA
Lobby, according to Gordon Gay,
secretary of the YMCA.
Two of the volumes, “Lift High
The Banner” and “For the Living
of These Days,” were written by
Dr. William M. Elliott, main speak
er for RE Week.
Both books are written compara
tively in the language of college
students and both are moderately
priced, says G'ay. Subjects covered
in the books are: men and women
relations, church worship vacations,
different religions, and recreation
and religion.
These and the many other books
on display in the lobby were
brought to the campus by Ned
Linegar, YMCA regional secretary.
Orders for volumes not immediate
ly available will be taken at the
lobby desk.
Other books available will be
“Alternative To Futility,” “Signs
of Hope,” “Foundations For Re
construction” by Elton Trueblood;
“Power and Poise” by E. Stanley
Jones, Methodist missionary in In
dia; “Faith for the Future” by Dr.
Charles Noble, chaplain in Syra
cuse, New York; “The Larger
Evangelism” by John R. Mott, hon
orary chairman of the World Coun
cil of Churches; “Religious Beliefs
of Youth” by Murray Ross, of the
National YMCA staff.
“Inner Life” Matter
He emphasized that “Happiness
is supremely a matter of a man’s
inner life and is lai’gely indepen
dent of outward circumstances. It
is the fruit of self renunciation. The
ego-centric person simply can not
be happy.”
He pointed out some things that
militate against a happy life:
sense of guilt, fear, and dodging
the plain revealed will of God for
one’s self and for the world.
In his conclusion, Dr. Elliott
asked the question “Can a person
be happy and not be genuinely re
ligious?, and then answered it by
saying “One can be only as happy
as he knows how to be. Unless a
man’s life is an open door to God
and fully yielded to him, he does
not know what real happiness is.”
Week’s Topics
Topics of Di\ Elliott’s speeches
for the coming week are as fol
lows: Tuesday, “On Being Differ
ent”; Wednesday “Why Not Try
God”; Thursday, “This Business of
Being a Christian”; and Friday,
“God Is at the Door”.
Twelve other leaders brought to
the campus by the YMCA and the
college administration were intro
duced to the students by Dean ot
Men W. L. Penberthy before this
morning’s service. They will con
duct forums each afternoon from
4 to 5:30 and nightly discussions at
9 p.m. in the dorm lounges.
The R.E. Week leaders were for
mally welcomed to the campus last
night with a reception held in
President M. T. Han-ington’s home.
College dignitaries, local ministers
and cadet officers and NCO’s at
tended.
Ph.D. from Scotland
The author of three books of
sermons, Dr. Elliott has a vast ed
ucational and practical background.
His education is highlighted by the
following degrees: B.A. from
Park College, Mo., in 1925; B. D.
from Presbyterian Theological
Seminary, Kentucky, in 1928; Ph.
D. from University of Edinburgh,
Scotland, in 1938; D.D. (honorary),
Davidson College, North Carolina,
in 1937; and his L.H.D. from Park
College, in 1949.
(See ELLIOTT, Page 2)
Twelve Ministers to Hold RE Dorm Discussions
Leo J. Stillpass
Rabbi, Temple B’Nai Israel
Galveston
Ned Linegar
Regional YMCA Secretary
Dallas
Twelve religious leaders of va
ried backgrounds have been
brought to the campus for the
1951 Religious Emphasis Week
which begins today.
They will conduct forums each
afternoon this week from 4 to 5:30
in the dorm lounges. These for
ums will be on specific subjects ac
cording to the following schedule:
Today-r-“Do Scientific Facts and
the Bible Agree?,” Tuesday—
“What Should a Student Get Out
of Four Years of College?,” Wed
nesday—“What Makes a Person a
Success?” and Thursday—“Men
and Women Relationships.”
Nightly discussion groups will
also be held by these leaders in the
lounges at 9 p.m. Subjects for
discussion will be left to the dis
cretion of each individual group.
The discussions will be operated
on a come-and-go basis so that
those students not having much
time may come and leave as they
please.
The men will live in the dormi
tories and will be available to the
students at all times.
Burton Coffman
Burton Coffman, minister of the
Central Church of Christ of Hous
ton, will live in Dorm 14 this week
and will be available to the stu
dents of both Dorms 14 and 17.
A former school teacher in Abi
lene, Coffman entered ministerial
work in 1931. After serving
churches in Lawton, Okla., Wichita
Falls, and Sherman, Texas, he came
to the Central Church of Houston
in 1938.
Coffman assisted here at A&M’s
first R.E. Week in 1942. He has
also been the main speaker at R.E.
Week in Commerce, Texas and held
successful revivals in eleven other
states.
Rev. Joseph J. Copeland
The pastor of the First Presby
terian Church of Denton, Dr. J. J.
Copeland, will live in dorm 2 this
week and counsel with the students
of Dorm 2 and 4.
Having a B.A. and D.D. degree
from Trinity University and a B.D.
from McCormick Theological Semi
nary in Chicago, Copeland is equal
ly well qualified in experience, hav
ing served pastorates in Chicago,
Ill., Frederick, Okla., and Denton.
He also has been R.E. Week speak
er or Baccalaureate speaker at
Texas Tech, Texas University,
Okla. A&M, Texas A&M, WTST
and Oklahoma College for Women.,
Rev. Larry Eisenberg
A recreation specialist, Rev. Lar
ry Eisenberg of the Methodist Stu
dent Board of Education at Nash
ville, Tenn., will live in Dorm 15
and counsel with dorm 15 and 17
students.
He has taken his college work at
a variety of schools including Ten
nessee, Wesleyan, Chattanooga
University, Garrett Biblical Insti
tute, Boston University School of
Theology and Yale’s Divinity
School.
Eisenberg has participated in
many youth conferences and has
made three collections of recrea
tional material in book form.
Chaplain William M. Frost
Students of Dorm 10 will play
host to Major William M. Frost,
assistant Post Chaplain of Fort
Bliss, Texas. He will be available
to students of both Dorms 10 and
12.
Having B.A., M.A. and B.D. de
grees to his credit, Chaplain Frost
also has an extensive service rec
ord including the Aleutian Cam
paign with 53fd Inf. Reg.; Deputy
Chaplain of the Alaska Dept.; Of
fice Chief of Chaplains of the
A.G.F. Div.; Chaplain of AAA
Command; and Deputy of Far East
Command.
Robert G. Gordon
The assistant dean of student life
at Texas University, Robert G.
Gordon, will be living and counsel
ing with the students of Dorms
5 and 7.
Educated at Denison U. of Ohio
and Colgate (B.D.) University, he
was formerly the dean of men at
the University of Redlands, Calif,
and dean of freshmen at Bucknell
University in Pennsylvania. A vet
eran of four year’s service in the
Navy, he is also a member of the
National Association of Deans and
Advisors of Men.
Dr. W. F. Howard
Dr. W. F. Howard, secretary of
the Baptist State Student Work,
will live in Dorm 6 and counsel
with students of Dorms 6 and 8.
A former English professor and
superintendent of schools, Dr.
(See MINISTER, Page 2)
Dr. W. F. Howard
Baptist Student Work
Dallas
Dr. J. J. Copeland
First Presbyterian Church
Denton
Rev. Paul YVassenich
Texas Bible Chair Director
Austin
Rev. Larry Eisenberg
Methodist Education Board
Nashville
R. G. Gordon
Assistant Dean of Students
Austin
Willis M. Tate
Vice-President SMU
Dallas
Rev. S. J. Kusnian
St. Mary’s University
San Antonio
Burton Coffman
Central Church of Christ
Houston