V
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
November 13, 1980
• 'i
Slouch
By Jim Earle
a^LC
“/Ve often wondered what would happen at the gate if a book wasn’t
properly checked out. ”
Reagan, courts causing fears
about church-state separatia
By DAVID E. ANDERSON
United Press International
Recent trends in federal court decisions on
church-state issues are causing some anxious
moments for believers in the strict separation of
church and state.
The outcome of the November election did
nothing to ease those fears.
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith,
in a report compiled before the election, said it
saw the “high wall of separation” being
“breached with increasing frequency.”
And the success of Republican Ronald
Reagan as well as election of a number of con
servative Republicans to the Senate is likely to
increase legislative efforts aimed at restoring
prayer to the public schools, banning abortion
and aiding non-public schools — all issues vital
to the separationists.
According to the ADL survey, separation of
church and state is being weakened both by
court rulings and by local government actions.
Kenneth J. Bialkin, chairman of the ADL’s
national executive committee, said the survey
showed “a disturbing trend of officiallv insti
tuted religious activity in the nation’s public
schools which violates the constitutional rights
of persons who do not wish to participate in
such religious practices.”
Religion is treated in two parts of the First
Amendment to the Constitution.
Those two parts prohibit Congress from mak
ing any law which would establish a religion or
which would prohibit the free exercise of reli
gion.
According to the ADL survey, both the
Establishment clause and the Free Exercise
clause are under attack.
Establishment issues are focused particularly
around the nation’s public schools and Bialkin
said the encroachment of religious activities in
the school was caused by the growth of more
conservative attitudes in the public at large as
well as the well-organized efforts by some
Christian evangelicals to inject religious prac
tices into public institutions.
—A U.S. court ruling upholdingtkd
Sioux Falls, S.D., schools to permittlei
ance of religious holidays, including^
religious programs.
—The increasing use of Bibl
courses, which the ADL said were
veiled teachings of Christian doctrine, j
—The Supreme Court and others
opening the door to public fundingofpi
schools by permitting direct aid andtii|
legislation for parents of parochial s
dren.
In the free exercise area, theADll
said most of the pressure on church-stall
ation involved the rights of Sabbatarian)
who observe the Sabbath on
At the local level, according to the survey,
some judges appear to be willing to accommo
date perceived community desires on such
issues as school prayer “even though constitiu-
tional principles may be eroded in the process. ”
It singled out Fairfax County, Vi,
refused, with court concurrence, toa®
date two Jewish girls, both valedictoi
were unable to attend their high school
tion on a Saturday because their®
observance forbade it.
Anti-5
Igor
Wedr
He said “voluntary” school prayer legislation
has been introduced in several states, including
Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and Arizona.
Other areas of concern involving the estab
lishment clause, he said, include:
The survey noted a growing under®
the nation of an “insensitivity of thet
towards those whose religious beliefs-i I
beliefs — differ from their own” ands: {
the ADL “uneasy” about the future,
Overeating compulsion
confronted with OA
I am happy and very glad to be alive. My days
are not always this high, but they usually are
this hopeful. This is a direct result of my in
volvement with Overeater’s Anonymous.
I came to OA, like a lot of people, because I
was overweight and nothing seemed to be
working anymore. My weight, my eating, the
way I looked had become an obsession. I was
living in the myth of the magic number — that
when I reached my goal weight, life would have
meaning and I would feel worthwhile.
Through childhood I had always felt “not
right” about the way I looked'. I always felt “fat”
even though, I can see in pictures now, that I
really wasn’t. But looking back I discovered that
I might not have had a weight problem then,
but I certainly had an eating problem which
eventually drove me to become a compulsive
overeater.
Food meant more to me than to my peers.
Even then I was equating food to happiness.
Then it was my candy that I connived from my
playmate and stashed for a later time. (I was not
a good stasher because just knowing that it was
around eventually drove me to gobble it down
as if someone would take it away from me.)
I gave food power. It “made” me happy,
acceptable and durable. It was my ace in the
hole when times were bad. It was my compan
ion when I was lonely. It made my good times
better.
But somewhere during that love affair with
food and eating, I lost control and the affair
became a compulsion.
I had normal days after that — days when I
was not consciously aware that I was controlled
by food. I was even able to diet and deny myself
the “goodies” for weeks and even months. Dur
ing these times I would feel in control. I felt
good about myself. I looked and acted like a
“normie.” And then it would hit again. Like a
preying lion, it would sometimes pounce and I
would step off the scale, pleased with my effort,
and immediately head for the kitchen to “re
ward” myself.
Sometimes it was subtle — a good time on
Saturday, but rigorously back in control on Sun
day or nervous nibbling days on “free” veget
ables. But regardless of how it started, it prog
ressed and ended the same way — binging,
feelings of guilt, followed by more binging, fol
lowed by days of promising myself to “start
Tomorrow,” followed by hopelessness, fol
lowed by more binging until I reached the point
where I couldn’t take it any more and I went
back on a diet, and the cycle began again.
I came to OA looking for a diet. I’m still in it
SO NOW WE'RE 5TDCK0UIK
INTHEIWIEQFNOWHERE
wmsmcts ■
50T THIS REDf
Reader’s Forum
m l TTHISREDCtA
.n^
The pli
Iviet U
TOrse ev
j&v) Wee.
Tgor Ti
ow who
1977 told
Tillel
}ght tha
th<
'uieJd
elation
after three years because it is teaching me how
to live without my compulsion, one day at a
time. I am the happiest than I can remember.
And, yes, I am thin.
There are no scales, no dues, or fees in OA.
The program is based on AA’s 12 steps of recov
ery. The 12 steps give me direction, but it’s up
to me to make them a part of my daily living. I
learn to do this by listening and sharing with
others. At the meetings, I am free to say what I
really feel without fear of being kicked out.
I’m not given advice, rather the others share
how they might have worked out my particular
difficulty and I am allowed and encouraged to
take what I can use and let go of the rest.
I can laugh or cry, speak or remain quiet.
Because of anonymity, I can let go of the fear
that the part of me that emerged during the
meeting, will not be gossiped about in or out of
the program. Principles before personalities is
the 12th tradition.
I love my sisters and brothers in OA. We
come from all walks of life, all ages, all sizes, and
all colors. Our compulsion has driven some of
us to become overweight, anorexic, or compul
sive vomiters. Some of us have been involved in
OA for years and some of us have just walked in
the door. Regardless, we all belong. We all
have tried to use food to deal with living. We
are all trying to learn to live one day at a time —
fully, joyfully and free from our compulsion.
There are two OA meetings in the Bryan/
College Station area:
Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
Faith United Church of Christ
Education Building
2402 S. College Avenue
Bryan
'ee yea
join him
Since
,Tu
web ex'i
lie two
It’s your turn
Moses challenge gets more workers jjj
Saturdays, 9 a.m.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
The White House
902 Jersey St.
College Station
For further information call 696-7949.
Editor’s note: The Battalion does not normally
accept unsigned editorial material. However,
due to the nature of the material presented
here, the request to withhold the writer’s
name was honored.
Editor:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Aston Hall for accepting the Moses Hall chal
lenge. We challenged any dorm to put up a keg
of beer, the winner being the dorm with the
most people out cutting for bonfire Saturday
and Sunday. Either the other dorms did not
hear of our challenge or did not wish to accept.
Anyway, the contest resulted in a big bonus for
bonfire with Aston having around 100 people
and Moses with 110 for the weekend.
The contest was a minor thing compared to
the big push for wood to build bonfire. The
weekend helped bring in wood badly needed to
make a good bonfire this year. Davis Gary
turned out big Saturday, loading trucks, while
dorms like Dunn and Hart did not always have
the larger turnouts but were able to pull their
weight with the hard-assed men they brought
out.
The non-reg turnout was pretty good this
year doing their share in cutting for Bonfire.
Although I am not familiar with the Corps units,
I know that Squadron 6 really put out Saturday
and Sunday, loading trucks.
With the combined efforts of the Corps and
non-regs we can Build the Hell Outta Bonfire.
Kevin Cockerline
Moses Yellowpot
Photo misinterpreted
Editor:
I would like to call your attention to a possi
ble misinterpretation in your front page photo
of bicycle parking in the November 6 issue of
the Battalion. If you had shown a picture of the
complete entry area of Heldenfels Hall with
signs on each side having arrows and access for
handicapped, you would have found the desig
nated entry area free (or nearly so) of any bicy
cles.
Your picture suggests that students have
ignored our “Please” signs, whereas nearly all
students have complied with our request to
keep the specific entry way open.
Many visitors from other universities have
been astounded by the spirit of cooperation of
our Aggies. I think your picture has done an
injustice to the vast majority of students, whose
splendid cooperation is most appreciated.
Rod O’ Connor
Leaving with thanks
Editor:
This is a difficult letter for metowri
four years with the Texas A&M Police I
ment, I want to take this opportunity to
my thanks to the University communifr
cooperation and understanding that lit
ceived from the students, faculty andstsl
course of my duties as a Police 01
Texas A&M Police Department. This
fies the true Aggie Spirit that makes
versity outstanding.
I would like to thank eachofyouindi
but time is so short.
I have accepted a position with a P(
partment closer to my home, but r
remains at Texas A&M.
Good Luck to each and every one
Detective Jo AnnaP
Criminal Invesil
Texas A&M
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Questions or comments concerning any editoriil : '
should be directed to the editor.
Warped
By Scott McCullar
I DON'T KNOW, ALL OF US ON
THE FOOTBALL TEAW
ARE TRYING, WE'RE
TAKIN 7 OUR LUMPS
SOMEHOW WE DON'T
HAVE PRIDE.
eoy,
YOU NEBD SO/AE
REMINPltf'...
1
L
YOU KEEP TRYIA/G Boy, you
AND YOUR TEAttMATES PESTIO/E
RESPECT ^ PRIDE JUST FOR
PUTTING A HELMET ON FOR
THI* UA/IVERS/TY. YOU'VE GOT
GREATEST SCHOOL SFlRIJ
/VOW 60 AND
P0 it!
V
0
THE
IN
THE COUNTS
—FOR you
standing up
YES sir,
'ROSS
THANK
You sir!
40?
Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Rhonda Watters
Asst. Managing Editor Scott Haring
City Editor Becky Swanson
Asst. City Editor Angelique Copeland
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Scot K. Meyer
Asst. Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
News Editors Lynn Blanco,
Gwen Ham, Todd Woodard
Staff Writers........ Jennifer Afflerbach, Kurt Aljen,
Nancy Andersen, Marcy Boyce, Jane G. Brust
Mike Burrichter, Pat Davidson, Cindy Gee
Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell, Debbie Nelson,
Liz Newlin, Rick Stolle
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor Pat O’Malley
Photographers George Dolan,
Jeff Kerber
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inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, Th
Feed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col
77843.
P<
a
\A
t<
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