Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, October 17,1983
War between superpowers not ‘just war’
by David E. Anderson
United Press International
Although “peace,” when it surfaces as a
concern in the churches, is often thought
of as a “liberal” issue, conservative and
evangelical Christians are becoming
more and more outspoken in their critic
ism of the nuclear arms race.
renewed consideration of the Biblical
aspects of war and peace issues.
“It seems impossible to conceive
of a situation that would justify
all-out war between the Soviet
Union and the United States. ”
The declaration, issued by the faculty
and board of trustees of Fuller Theolo
gical Seminary, Pasadena, Calif., says,
^We are compelled, as evangelical follow
ers of Jesus Christ, to redicate ourselves
to the task of peacemaking. In doing so,
we join many Fellow Christians and urge
still others to join us.”
States,” it said. “What boon could victory
bring to either nation?”
The declaration conceded that “as
long as nations unfriendly to ours have
titanic power, whether nuclear or ‘con
ventional,’ we need power to deter them
from using that power in either madness
or malice.
no predictable assurance for anyt
today, while it drains oureconoir
leaves urgent human needs uni
Ordinary common sense as well ascii
ence calls out for a controlled endt[
weapons race and the reductionofl
and military forces of all types,”
iMW v
Among evangelicals, the “historic
peace churches,” — the Quakers, Men-
nonites and Brethren — have long pro
vided a pacifist witness to the conserva
tive Christian community but their view
has generally been relegated to the fringe
as most evangelicals accept a theology
that provides For waging a “just war ”
In recent years, evangelfcals around
the “Sojourners” community — a group
of theologically conservative yet pontical-
'dy radical social activists based in
Washington D.C. with a network that
stretches across the nation — have led a
Most recently, in the first meeting of its
kind, conservative Christians gathered in
California this past summer to debate a
Biblical approach to the arms race and
the threat of nuclear war although they
issued no statements nor took any posi
tions as a group.
It challenges the traditional Christian
just war theory, that war can be justified
oefore God only when the evils are wag
ing war are significantly less than the evils
Thus, it added, “we acknowledge the
role that many have played in maintain
ing our capability of deterrence.”
that would prevail if war were not used
against thrm
The declaration noted thedittti
in values between the United Stataj
the Soviet Union, adding, “We kno»j
it takes two nations with a mindfor[(
to negotiate complex arms redufl
agreements.” j
But now, one of the most prestigious
and influential of evangelical seminaries
has. as a body, adopted what it calls “a
declaration of conscience about the arms
“We are persuaded that this condition
cannot conceivably be met in armed con
flict between the superpowers,” the Ful
ler declaration said.
“But the uncontrolled arms race
offers no predictable assurance
for any nation today, while it
drains our economies and leaves
urgent human needs untended. ”
ill:
tm
But it said the United States ski
seek “fundamental change" in iii|
lationship with the Soviet Union. I
race.
“It seems impossible to conceive of a
situation that would justify all-out war
between the Soviet Union and the United
It added, however:
“But the uncontrolled arms race offers
“We refuse to believe that, in a*!
where God is Lord, our two i
destined to perpetual hostility,” ill
“We believe that in God’s provideitil
people need be locked
closed system.”
Letters
‘Bad Ags’ don’t always belong
to local fraternities, sororities
Meanwhile, kick at
the START talks...
Editor:
I would like to ask you some questions.
First, at a school where “brotherly” love
and personal excellence and acceptance
are considered the most important
aspects of being “Aggies,” why do certain
groups (i.e. dorms) continue to harass
other Aggies and intentionally do dam
age to their property?
Second I would like to know why
whenever someone says “Fraternity” or
“Sorority” at A&M the immediate reply is
“Bad Ag” or “Nuke the Frats.”
In explaining my first question, I feel it
needs to be stated to all Aggies that a
completely unprovoked and injurious
“joke” is being played on the Fraternity
system here at A&M.
In the past year, a certain dorm has
been reprimanded by the school for steal
ing from other Aggies. They have stolen
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
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Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Hope E. Paasch
Managing Editor Beverly Hamilton
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Assistant City Editor Karen Schrimsher
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Assistant Entertainment Editor Shelley
Hoekstra
News Editors Brian Boyer, Kathy Breard,
Kevin Inda,
Tracey Taylor,
Chris Thayer,
Kathy Wiesepape
Photo Editor Eric Evan Lee
Staff Writers Robin Black,
Brigid Brockman,
Bob Caster, Ronnie Crocker,
Kari Fluegel, Tracie Holub,
Bonnie Langford,
John Lopez,
Kay Denise Mallett,
Christine Mallon,
Michelle Powe,
Ann Ramsbottom,
Stephanie Ross, Angel Stokes,
Steve Thomas, John Wagner,
Karen Wallace,
Wanda Winkler
Copy Editors Kathleen Hart, Kristal Mills,
Susan Talbot
Cartoonists Paul Dirmeyer,
Scott McCullar
Photographers Michael Davis,
Guy Hood,
John Makely, Dean Saito
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our hats (on campus while we are wearing
them), our banners, letters (from our
houses) and other various pieces of prop
erty (i.e. trophies, pictures, etc.) without
any provocation or retaliation by us.
That dorm was put on probation last
year and their “scavenger hunt” was dis
continued.
Well, Ags, it has happened again. This
time they did not only steal our property,
they destroyed it. Last weekend they des
troyed a tire on a person’s car.
Also, they stole the new letters from
our house and returned the old ones they
stole last year (they set them on fire in our
front yard). Is this the “Good Bull” re
creation by an Aggie dorm that we all
promote?
Secondly, fraternities and sororities
for years now have participated in charity
fundraisers, community clean-ups, stu
dent government and other campus acti
vities.
Does that sound like the typical “Bad
Ag” we hear so much about?
Jay Old
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — According to a re
cent public opinion survey, couples with
“similar interests” have the best shot at
forminjg lasting relationships.
In this poll, the majority ranked simi
lar interests ahead of “intelligence,”
“sense of humor,” “physical attractive
ness” and “good income.”
I don’t necessarily quarrel with that
ordering of priorities. But suppose you
are primarily interested in brainpower,
comic books, good looks and money,
whereas the main interests of your lover
are needlepoint, Bavarian art, open heart
surgery and pretzels.
Does that mean your relationship is
inevitably transitory? Not necessarily, I
would say. It depends on whether the two
of you are intellectually stimulated by
by Ron
Batti
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he said.
Pretzels the salt of lasting
such things as open heart surgery and
pretzels.
If so, you can look forward to many
enchanted evenings before an open fire,
heads together pondering such conun
drums as whatever happened to closed
heart surgery and how the origin of hard
pretzels got lost in the mists of antiquity.
Nobody, we are told, knows where or
when hard pretzels, as opposed to soft
pretzels, first appeared.
A true intellectual realizes that many
golden moments are missing from his
tory, probably because someone neg
lected to write them down. The test of
durability is whether both parties in a
relationship are romantic enough to
brood about it anyway.
I personally an intellectually romantic
enough to envision in the smoke rings the
image of Miss Mable Upperfloss of Amen
Gorner, Vt., who is in the kitchen whip
ping up a batch of pretzels to take to a
church social.
Upon removing the twists from the
oven, she finds to ner surprise and dis
may that they have acquired a rigid, brit
tle texture. Her assumpion is that she has
messed up the old family recipe for soft
pretzels.
The appointed hour for the social hav
ing already arrived, Miss Upperfloss does
not have time to whip up another batch.
Neither will her sense of honor permit
her to show up with a culinary mistake.
So she takes the hard pretzels to the
church and leaves them like a foundling
on the rear stoop, knocking upon the
door and then beating a hasty retreat ere
her presence is discovered.
It hardly need be said that hard pre
tzels provide a new taste thrill, especially
for male parishioners, in whom the'| by K;
ate a strong thirst for beer. ; Battaii
A church being an inappropJDn-campu
place to develop a craving for beer, ign-up begir
guests begin betaking themselves ontinue thr
nearby tavern, long oefore the or students i
ends. he residence
The barkeep, sensing this couldteBThis sprinj
start of something big, has thehardpillhaveane)
tzels analyzed and duplicated. Thei
ter, he keeps a bowl of them on ’
Beer sales triple overnight.
Miss Upperfloss, a teetotaler,i*
shares in the fruits of her invention,
Mortified by the belief that she isafa
as a pretzel baker, she goes to anti
grave.
1 f hard pretzels lack the ingredient
a lasting relationship, better take up*
someone whose chief interest is
ing on salt water taffy.
into Spen
Spence I:
Hale dormito
Nuclear power plant supporters
undermining Seabrook project
Slouch
By Jim Earl
by Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
SEABROOK, N.H. —On Oct. 7, 1979,
a long-planned occupation of the nearby
nuclear power complex began inauspi-
ciously and went straight downhill.
Only 3,000 anti-nuclear activists
gathered under the banner of the “Clam
shell Alliance” on that cold and wet
weekend. When they crossed tidal mar-
shed aboard flimsy rubber rafts, mace-
wielding police easily repelled them. The
two-day non-violent “action” failed mis
erably, and the plant’s completion
seemed inevitable.
Four years later, the fate of the con
troversial Seabrook nuclear power sta
tion is more in doubt than ever. The
S lant’s Unit I reactor, several years be-
ind schedule and only 80 percent com
plete, is unlikely to go on line before
March 1986.
Unit II, meanwhile, is less than 25 per
cent complete and by many accounts
doomed. Seabrook’s owners, a coalition
of 16 New England utilities, voted unani
mously last month to “delay” further
work on Unit II. Many of the power com
panies want to halt work permanently.
Ironically, Seabrook’s critics say its
owners and contractors have imperiled
the project through miscalculation and
mismanagement.
Initially estimated at less then $1 bil
lion, construction costs are sure to sur
pass the revised estimate of $5 billion
and, according to the state public utilities
commission, reach $9 billion unless Unit
II is canceled.
“It’s self-destructing,” said Ghris Spir-
ou, the Democratic minority leader in the
New Hampshire House of Representa
tives. “It’s not the Clamshell Alliance or
the anti-nuclear people who are chipping
away at this project, but those people
who, behind the scenes, were gung-ho
about it at first and who now see prob
lems.”
Spirou has asked Gov. John Sununu to
convene a special session of the legisla
ture before next fall to deal with skyrock
eting electric bills expected to result from
completion of Unit I.
The Public Service Company of New
Hampshire, which holds controlling in
terest in Seabrook, says monthly bills will
rise 40 percent; other observers say the
figure is closer to 100 percent.
The threat of rate shock isn’t immedi
ately pressing. But Seabrook’s remaining
backers know that their project will soon
be cut down to size.
Does he or doesn’t he? Frantic guessing
about Ronald Reagan’s second-term
plans has put the spotlight on Vice Presi
dent George Bush, the president’s heir
apparent.
Yet if Bush knows something everyone
else doesn’t, his personnel decisions don’t
show it. During the last year, Bush’s staff
has undergone continuing turnover.
Moreover, only three slots have been
reserved for Bush confidants at the as-
yet-unopened Reagan re-election cam
paign committee.
As the “media candidate” of 1984, Sen.
John Glenn carries the burden of per
forming as well in public as on camera.
And, as his uninspiring performance at a
New Hampshire campaign stop Sept. 30
suggests, the Ohio Democrat may already
have proved he’s not up to the task.
At Manchester’s New Hampshire Col
lege Glenn put more than 1,000 initially
excited students to sleep with a lackluster
speech on their least favorite issue: edu
cation.
Jsj