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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1999)
TheBi ie Battalion O PINION Page 17 • Friday, May 7, 1999 Htfi or ZZuttino —The R:r viid fwe zzi it all bj —en’t m =11 this* and toL zzhampift us soli y we 'Praying for an end Mlowingprayer at graduation upsetting to some, f) ; verall I have had a good four ears at this uni- ersity. Yes, there as been the oc- asional boring lass (why do lib- ral arts majors eed science and Brendan GUY n live w:l ■ or tod ation wi it was! ng,” he id no! —ty of hi: Aikmai ,r liatli classes?) ie Rock Ind some of the traditions seem neir taleftightly ridiculous, but on the whole ^nsitioniBiis is a pretty good place to go to —rich hasBchool. > n g gd> Unfortunately, the University real- fcng that soon it will no longer be —inning ?aNe to plague me with the core cur- zzn tryinfpculum and the PTTS, has decided Tomjarftn one final, glorious slap across the = and tni face to remind me of my time here. 3 thatvfllj Of course, 1 refer to nothing else “ guysmut the terrifying specter of school- s justgifconsored prayer being conducted at ; graduation. =to getm The true horror is that the Univer- offenseftty does seem to have the law on ='s adaAeir side on this one. The Supreme Mourt, in a rather confusing move ■nee it banned organized prayer in . fte classrooms and even at high ■chool football games, has ruled that ^OBrayer at graduations is acceptable as V'ClMong as it is initiated by students. I The court’s rationale for treating Traduations with less First Amend- lient scrutiny than regular school Jvents is that graduations are com- was n putatively rare, are optional and are been Jlonducted outside of the classroom. I This explanation does not make any sense. I It is a basic law of economics that ■ something is rare, it is more valu- ple. The rarity of a graduation akes it that much more important an any normal school event, which fellow means the First Amendment should f ew ton. W e enforced more rigorously, not less. ‘melypM As ^ or graduation being optional, i d in tt!:[w ue as f ar as lf g° es b ut th an techni- ■ally attending the public schools is " :i i Bptional with private and home ichooling being available. And of ■ nfcfurse graduations take place outside Tie classroom, but they are still a ■hool — or university — sponsored ■ event. If a public school or university Bermits prayer at one of its events it § giving state sanction to one reli- mon over all the others, this is the Nery thing the First Amendment is Mesigned to prevent. 1 So basically, the Supreme Court sn owed up. There is always a special disappointment when that happens, ?cause the Supreme Court is sup- )se to be the responsible, dignified iranch of the government, the one Jpat protects us from the blunders of lie president and Congress, but even the best of institutions is going to make a mistake now and then. I The real issue here is why Texas l&M feels the need to take advan tage of the Supreme Court’s mistake. I How could having organized irayer at graduation seem like a good idea? Is the University just giving no thought at all to its non-Christian stu dents? Non-christians are as much Aggies as the Christians are and de serve equal treatment at graduation. In this case there are only two ways to grant equal treatment. One is to grant equal time to all religious views, something that would be mad ness given graduation is already ru mored to take over three hours. The other way is to not have any school- sponsored prayer at graduation at all. That is the most logical way to go on this one. Now some might say that the same arguments that are made against school prayer could just as easily be made about having George Bush speak at graduation. After all, not all Aggies are Republicans (it just seems that way) and some might be offended at hearing him speak. Sorry, but this is completely differ ent. President Bush will be able to impart his wisdom and experience to the graduating class, this is some thing that is of value to everyone re gardless of political affiliation. And even if one is a raging liberal, it is still important to at least know how the opposition thinks, so hearing Bush speak is still of value. Prayer does not carry the same universal value. Prayer is (or at least it is supposed to be) a personal connection between an individual and whatever god/force they believe in. If one does not follow the god a particular prayer is aimed at, he or she almost certain ly will not get anything out of it. The consequences of this is that school- sponsored prayer is needlessly divi sive and insulting to non-Christians at an event where all Aggies should be able to come together regardless of religious belief. And quite frankly there is some thing unseemly about public prayer. It just does not look that sincere; it seems like the person doing it is more interested in showing his fellow men how pious he is instead of honestly communing with whatever higher power he believes in. Nor is this just the thoughts of an annoyed atheist. Matthew 6:5-6 states, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men ... when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, ” so the Bible would also seem to warn about the flashy showiness of public prayer. There is nothing wrong with prayer as long as it is done in the proper place and time (and not as a replacement for studying or getting proper medical care). For those that want to pray, by all means please do. Get together with your friends and pray until your knees bleed, but please do it before or after graduation (or if you just have to do it at graduation at least do it in a silent, dignified, nondisruptive manner). Texas A&M is a secular uni versity, graduation from it should re main a strictly secular event. Brendan Guy is a senior history and political science major. r esult of Supreme Court’s poor judgement |\N GABRIEL RUENES/The Battalion SColumnist reminisces about experiences at Battalion, »hopes for future of University, students in general W ho knew the end would come so quickly? After three se mesters on the opinion desk, I am finally writ ing my last column. | The conservatives can stop cheering now. I It has been an inter- I esting three years for this liberal Jain (i.e. non-Christian). >; I have learned that Copenhagen is not just a city in Denmark. I have learned that pedestrians truly rule the streets. And I have learned that I am going to hell. [ Somewhere in the middle of this cul ture clash, I decided to try to tell A&M about those people who did not fit into the majority mold. And so my three se mesters began. During this time, I have had many ex- Iperiences on the desk. I have learned that Texas A&M is not quite the “conservative Wasteland” my democratic friends back in Louisiana claimed I was being exiled to. lC Hirr; : But it is pretty close. As much as I love the University, only a truly ignorant person would not admit that A&M is a haven for the conservative, the fundamentally Christian and the shel tered. During my stint on this desk, I have managed to tick off many different groups on this campus. Conservatives have told me how uniformed and uneducated I am. The sheltered have written me about how I should not try and shake up the status quo. And the religious right have written that I am going to hell. I have also found myself at the center of controversy. Thanks to a column I wrote earlier this semester, I had the dis tinct pleasure of receiving a phone call from Tom Short, the itinerant preacher. Yes, I know. I am going to hell for that one, too. But as much as I enjoyed receiving let ters from people who criticized writers’ grammar, style and punctuation (and making more mistakes in 150 words than in a whole 10-page Battalion), the best re sponses have been from those who have applauded what the opinion desk and the writers are trying to do. I have enjoyed reading the e-mails from international students, from non- Christians and from racial minorities thanking me for presenting a viewpoint a little closer to their own. I have enjoyed having people tell me that they always read my columns. But most of all, I have enjoyed people informing me that my col umn made them think. Because in the end, that is what makes it worth. I never planned to change anyone’s views. I just wanted to make people aware that there are different voices out there. There are different people in the world. It seems people tend to forget that at this University. People tend to forget that the world is made of many types of peo ple, and most of them do not see the world in the same way. It is sad to come to place of higher learning and realize that many students are not taking the opportunity to broaden their horizons and learn about others. Worse yet, it is sad to know that they dis count others’ ideas and opinions simply because those people are different. And that is my one regret. Even after trying numerous times to let the majority see what it is like to be in the minority, there were still those who wanted to at tack and criticize instead of trying to sit down and calmly discussing and learn ing. I am proud to be an Aggie. I plan to tell my children, one day, about my wonder ful— and not so wonderful — experi ences as an Aggie. But before I encourage my children to become second-generation Aggies, I want to know that they will feel welcome here and that their ideas will not be looked down on by the majority simply because they are half-Indian. I do not want my children to feel as alienated at A&M as I have felt many times. I received my Aggie Ring yesterday. I receive my diploma in August and I will walk away from this University with mixed feelings. But I will look back fondly on my time as a columnist and as opinion editor for The Battalion. It has been an experience like no other and I would not trade it for anything. Not even if I am going to hell. Manisha Parekh is a junior psychology and journalism major. MAIL CALL Alumni grateful for student’s honesty The honesty and character of your student body was demon strated to me when I returned home from Muster. A credit card service called to tell me that a student at A&M called them to say they had found one of my credit cards on the campus — I had not even missed the card. The student did not give a name so I want to express my thanks through your newspaper. I am very proud of being an Ag gie and even more so after my ex perienced the last few days. Phillip McDaniel Class of ’49 The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author's name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu