Opinion
Final Review gives
feeling of joy, remorse
Final Review is just around the corner for the 1980-81
Corps of Cadets.
Another senior class will leave, another junior class will
take over.
The time will be as exhilarating for the juniors as it is
depressing for the seniors. Some seniors say they’re excited,
relieved and glad to get out of this place.
Yet mixed with the joy is at least a slight twinge of regret at
the prospect of leaving.
For those who haven’t been to a Final Review, it’s an
experience. It’s a celebration, not only for the new comman
ders just gaining their responsibilities, but also for the
seniors who have worked for four years.
Most of all, it’s a celebration of the Corps. The sense of
continuity, of preserving traditions, somehow overshadows
the ceremony.
If the spirit of the Corps could speak, it would no doubt
say, with a sense of finality, “I’m still here ... you’re
leaving.”
— Dillard Stone
Carter keeping tradition
of political refugee aid
President Carter is to be commended for deciding to admit up to
3,500 of the 10,800 Cubans who have jammed the Peruvian Embassy
grounds in Havana seeking asylum and resettlement abroad.
That this rubs salt in the sensitivities of the Fidel Castro dictatorship is
just that much of a bonus. But the United States should always stand
ready to admit political refugees. The nation’s record with political
refugees as valuable, hard-working additions to the citizenry has been
quite good, especially the 800,000 who have fled Castro’s Cuba since
1959.
Certainly the. incident is a most severe black eye for the Castro
“paradise on earth. ’’ Angered that the Peruvian Embassy was harboring
some Cubans, Castro decided to teach Peru a lesson. He removed
Cuban guards from the embassy compound and announced the refugees
were free to leave Cuba if they could obtain foreign entry visas.
But the lesson backfired. Within a few hours 10,500 people crowded
into the embassy grounds before Castro slammed shut the gate. Repor
ters found that many had economic reasons. Despite $8 million a day in
Soviet aid, economic crises bring constant deprivation for the ordinary
Cuban family.
Concern for those seeking political refuge is in the best American
tradition.
the small society
by Brickman
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The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Rhonda Watters
Asst. Managing Editor .... Becky Swanson
City Editor Rusty Cawley.
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
News Editor Lynn Blanco
Focus Editor Rhonda Watters
Staff Writers Nancy Andersen,
Uschi Michel-Howell, Debbie Nelson.
Cathy Saathoff, Jana Sims,
Todd Woodard
Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographers Lynn Blanco, Steve Clark, Ed
Cunnius
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
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University Administration or the Board of
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as a university and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
April 29, 1980
Reader’s Forum
iit«i
I isfia
111
Split between science, religion not inherent
By TOM BOZEMAN
Certainly one of the most frightening
things that our educators have done to our
society was exhibited in Thursday’s Batta
lion. Even the title of the article “Science
vs. Religion communicates the thought
that science and religion are archenemies,
vying ruthlessly for the domains of men’s
minds.
A sinister shift in the philosophical
groundwork of our institutions of higher
learning has allowed science to be pitted
against religion, but in former years, such
was never the case. Such a confrontation is
completely fabricated by men who wish to
make science the only source of truth; total
ly contrary to its beginnings.
bear up well under the evidence. The
fathers of science were staunch Christians,
and their trust in God as Creator and Sus-
tainer of all things was their starting point
scientifically and was what motivated them
to develop the scientific method and syste
matically study the universe He lovingly
entrusted to them. They did not separate
science from faith, but saw them as con
gruous; working together to reveal truth
about God.
the absolute authoritative Word of God.
He wrote widely on theological concerns,
as well as scientific ones, and had many
works published in Geneva, one of the cen
ters of the Reformation. A representative
quote is, “The Holy Scriptures and nature
are both produced by the word of God.”
However, it is a representation he fails to
receive today.
At a very early age, we were all taught
that science fights with facts, far superior
than religion’s weapon, faith (or, “believing
in what you know ain’t so!”). The introduc
tion of the article itself pitted a seemingly
liberal-minded free-thinking astronomer
against the insipid dogmatic church, and
the astronomer won; predictably the Amer
ican readers say; he dealt with truth where
as the church dealt in superstition.
This blighted view which has sprung
forth most militantly since Darwin pub
lished his Origin of the Species does not
Had they not been completely con
vinced that a rational and eternal personal
God put together things in a logical order
(as is affirmed throughout Scripture) then
no meaningful answers could be formu
lated as to its functioning. Some specific
examples of these men follow.
Galileo is championed as a free spirit who
brought “religion” tumbling down with his
liberal inquiry. Nothing could be further
from the truth! He did labor against the
Roman Catholic conception of the uni
verse, that the earth is in the center of the
universe, but this view is Aristotle’s, not
the Bible’s. Galileo was persecuted by the
Church for contradicting Aristotle’s
theories, which somehow had become inte
grated into their dogma. He was also perse
cuted by them for holding the Bible to be
Robert Boyle was perhaps the most in
fluential person to the development of
modern experimental science. He syste-
mized the scientific method into the pow
erful means of investigation that we now
know. He is called the father of modern
chemistry. “Boyle’s Law” is still taught ex
actly as he formulated it. Yet his stated
purpose for scientific investigation was to
demonstrate the reasonableness and har
mony of Scripture and natural laws and
principles. So deeply was he concerned
about the Scriptures that he learned Heb
rew, Aramaic and Syriac to read it in the
original tongues. Far more of his writing
was theological in nature rather than scien
tific.
Mchael Faraday and James Clerk Max
well laid the groundwork for Einstein to
develop his astounding theories. Faraday
linked energy and matter as well as discov
ering electrolysis. Maxwell developd
mathematics of Electromagnetism anil
scribed the nature of electron™
radiation. Maxwell had a habit of re;!
the Scripture with his wife and, il
home, would write to her discussin;
passage of the day. Faraday was i
preacher at a London church. Hepreal
sermons on the doctrines of Biblical Cli
ianity constantly affirming the exista
and power of the God of the Bible, Fa
the work of Faraday’s that has been!
lished, his sermons still sit in a box,
and forgotten.
A brief discussion of 5 men of scia
who built their scientific careers or
foundation of a God who revealed hi:
definitively through both the Script
and nature is not proof for the existena
God. But it does show that “warfare
tween science and faith was unborn
fore the late nineteenth century,
important to these men was not their
coveries but that they had a personal
lationship with the God who createil
universe in a knowledgeable order
allowed them the wonder and privilej
understanding it.
Tom Bozeman is a senior biochenn
major and president of the Intern.
Christian Fellowship
\P
Window
Lobby's ratings based on morals, not politics
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — That ever-
increasinly popular game in the nation’s
capital — rating the members of Congress
— has finally reached its extreme.
A national political lobby, claiming to
represent the Christian community, has
anointed itself as the arbiter of congression
al morals.
Not morals in the accepted sense of the
word. Rather morality based on selected
votes during the 1979 session.
This organization calls itself “Christian
Voice.”
Its legislative director, Gary L. Jarmin,
grandly proclaims, “With this rating,
Christians will for the first time now have
the opportunity to judge the voting per
formances of their elected representatives
on important moral issues.”
Although “Christian Voice” claims to
represent the Christian community, it is
rather evidently an undisguised conserva
tive lobby, with some indications that it
might be on the right fringes.
Americans for Constitutional Action,
which prides itself on conservatism, almost
certainly would come up with similiar rat
ings.
For instance, the senators with perfect
scores — William Armstrong, Paul Laxalt,
Gordon Humphreys and Jesse Helms —
are among the most conservative in Con
gress.
Those with zeros — too many to list —
are all liberals.
The ratings are based on all issues —
abortion, balanced budget, busing, school
prayer, and “forced unionization” among
others — on which idealogue conservatives
brook no dissent.
“Christian Lobby” also has a unique con
cept of what constitutes a moral vote,as
opposed to an immoral or amoral ballot.
According to this organization, it was
moral to vote for an amendment to commit
the United States to defend Taiwan, no
matter what, and it was equally moral to
vote for ending sanctions against Rhodesia.
Unfortunately for “Christian Voice,” a
majority of senators, probably assuming in
their immoral way of thinking that these
were foreign policy issues, voted wrong.
It was also moral to vote against creation
of the Department of Education, therefore
presumably immoral or amoral to vote for
it.
A strong reason to oppose the depart
ment, according to “Christian Voice,” was
because it was backed by the National Edu
cation Association, “a national union of
school teachers which espouses a radical,
secular-humanist philosphy, supports
forced school busing, sex education and
opposes school prayer.”
President Carter is probably the coun
try’s best known “born-again Christian,”
was not rated. But he was on the nonmoral
side on at least five of the 14 votes by which
members of Congress were rated.
What is most strange about these self-
proclaimed moralists is their seeming
of interest in morals, as generally del
Jarmin is quoted as saying that the
ings “will have a dynamic effect to®
influencing how Christians will votei»
November elections.”
Presumably then, “Christian Vo*
wants a solid vote from the Christian®;
munity for Rep. Richard Kelly, R-Fla.,»
appears to be deeply involved in
Abscam scandal.
Sen. Herman Talmadge, D-Ga.,shi
get about half the Christian vote base)
his 50 percent rating although he was"®
demned” by colleagues for a series
deeds, and Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Ci'
who wound up with 42 percent, is
be hauled before the House on a serif
charges.
Ratings like the “Christian Voice’’car
extremely dangerous because they seel
give the impression that religion and® 1 ’
als are the issues — not politics, \
the case.
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By Doug Graham
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