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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2001)
November Mesday, November 7, 2001 BATTALION Page 11 urth straight utt'ielderJimfcJ Is won his sec* with Anaheim Reese, who ij team. First l go’s J.T. alker. w hocoi n for the third fj ■ seen play the* Is the NL carej eal shortstop! w'lings to the ,ue. Voting isi'-rj TODD 3YC The Jehovah itness defense Ihovah’s Witnesses are defending the Constitution. At their urging, the Supreme Court has agreed to examine an ordinance the village of Stratton, Ohio. This ordi nance, passed three years ago requires anyone soliciting door to door, from political activists to cookie-wielding Girl Scouts, to religious zealots, to obtain a permit from the mayor before starting their door knocking. On the surface, this require- MACEK ment seems innocent enough. However, on deeper reflection, amification of allowing such a law to stand fcoad-ranging. ince its inception, no one has been denied a it. The ordinance is meant to be a means of cting the privacy of the homeowner. Most ile do not relish the thought of being disturbed me by peddlers of goods — especially not by lers of religion — and therefore, no local sition to the ordinance has emerged. Riding with Stratton is easy. To the casual rver, the ordinance poses no threat to the stitution. The only ones threatened are the le knocking door-to-door. At best, this law unecessary. But the reality of it is that it pies the First Amendment's guarantee of speech and violates the concept of separa- of church and state. k problems with such a law begin with it g unnecessary. When someone knocks on the there is no law saying one must answer it. If leone is giving a sales pitch about Kirby vacu- or God’s everlasting love, and one does not hile UT head ;'* 1110 close the door. It is that easy, celli was name<W 0 § ovemmen, intervention is required. Instead dividual citizens dealing with an ordinary lem through ordinary means, this power has relinquished by citizens and deposited in the of the mayor. He now has the power to deter- ; who gets a permit. This is a substantial aunt of power in one person’s hands, consider- this is a society that embraces the free distribu- of ideas. Say a person wants to go door-to-door jndingup grass-roots support for a noble cam- in, such as increasing mandatory minimum sen es for drug offenders. Or perhaps they wish to [her support for an ordinance requiring the mayor earabunny suit to work three days a week. Pick any hypothetical situation, crazy or not. If [\c(lV Mmayoris opposed, there is no guarantee a per- c ' be given. Now one man at the pinnacle of ^t.povjev decides What ideas come door to door. one man has the power to limit the exposure [people to ideas that might oppose his own. pterin America ideally runs from the bottom [Limiting the actions of grass-roots political livists undermines this premise. Under the cur- law, the mayor has the power to halt a petition llie people before it even begins, thus stockpil- Jpower at the top. The other and more easily seen manner in ichthis ordinance violates the constitution is separation of church and state. Again, the check out the call 84?-^ if someone is giving a sales pitch about Kirby vacuums or God's everlasting love, and one does not gii want to buy, close the door. ■ ■ ilso named to Defender Srr d midfielder A'i th freshman ie aH-newcomet as’ first Big championship or ward the Big 12 Rod f the Year. :he most first t with five lad three, A lahoma had one fence’s head coat he teams after egular season fe Ski Glut at triction of ideas is the sticking point. The nstitution ensures its citizens the right to prac- : whatever religion they like, however socially popular they might be. The ordinance allows for crimination based on religious practice. If the yor finds a particular religion unsavory, no per- will be given. Permits also violate the right to ictice religion anonymously. To obtain a permit, must divulge his or her name. Divulging such ormation to the government serves no purpose benefits the public in no way. Jehovah’s Witnesses are pursuing Supreme iurt intervention for the purpose of preserving irreligious practices. You may not like ovah’s Witnesses on your doorstep, but they e a right to knock. In pursuing such action, they edone all Americans a favor. While not their ial intent, they are defending the Constitution all. For this, they deserve American support. I enext time you open your door to find a door- |||g|M door evangelist, thank them for standing up UllH linst an ill-though-out law that would cost all a of freedom. Then if someone is not interested ying the message being sold, politely shut the r. No government intervention required. Todd Macek is a senior history major. Keep prayer private Gov. Perry should not reinstate prayer in public schools T wo weeks ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry decided that because he does not “understand the logic” of the 1963 Supreme Court ruling that bans organized . school prayer, he should have the power to ignore it com pletely. Perhaps he was sick the day that his government profes sor taught the lesson that state governors are not endowed with the power to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Evidently, Perry failed to recognize that he blatantly dis regarded the law in front of hundreds of students when he brought a Protestant minister to lead a prayer at Palestine Middle School. While Perry might not see the logic in the principle of sep aration of church and state, the Supreme Court is clear. Taking advantage of the nation’s need for consolation. Perry has been championing the cause of prayer in schools, and he drove the point home with a prayer at an official, mandatory school assembly. Defending the prayer, which ended with the phrase, “in Jesus’ name we pray,” Perry expressed concern that the majority of stu dents are ultimately being ignored because of a “small minority” of students who do not believe in the same God. While it has not been estab lished how small of a minority all the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic and atheist students in America actu ally are. Perry has decided that their numbers are few enough to consider their opinions a bother. In a time of national crisis, students who wish to pray should feel free to do so. That is why there are independently spon sored organizations such as Young Life that meet voluntarily and advertise on school property. In addition to sponsored organizations, some students actually know how to pray by themselves, during school, with out microphones and without an adult present. Opponents of separation of church and state rarely imagine how they would feel if their reli gion were not the majority. No one can be sure Christianity will always be a majority religion in America. Perry should choose his words, more carefully, considering that, one day, his grandchildren could be forced to pull out prayer mats and bow to Muslim prayer tapes at an official school function. Even generic prayers that do not mention Jesus or Allah violate the Supreme Court ruling. This country was founded on the principle that everyone should have equal freedom to exercise their beliefs, so long as they are within the law. Until the day comes that there are school administrators monitoring stu dents to make sure they do not bow their heads or meet after school to pray, the argument that praying students are being perse cuted holds little merit. Schools today are rightfully free of religious doctrine. Some see this as a bad thing because they think students should not be trusted to decide for themselves what they will and will not believe. It is not the job of public schools, however to instruct stu dents in any kind of religion. The purpose of public school is to educate students in the arts and sciences and help them learn how to function in society. Many public schools attempt to teach proven, modern scientific findings, even if they contradict religious beliefs. Parents who want religion fed to their children have several options. They can pray with their children at home, go to church as a family or send them to private schools. These are not such radical solu tions — plenty of people choose to do all of these things. Yet many ADRIAN CALCANEO • THE BATTALION argue, that private schools are too expensive. Perhaps these people fail to notice that church is free. Regardless of what route par ents choose to take, no realistic solution involves politicians. Even World magazine, a conservative Christian publication, featured an article this year regarding separa tion of church and state that asked the question, “How many souls has Congress ever saved?” Despite this, the governor likely sees a chance to score religious brownie points for his upcoming election campaign. Hopefully, he has weighed the long-term impli cations of the words he speaks while exploiting the nation’s time of crisis. Christy Ruth is a sophomore journalism major. MAIL CALL TV1£ Tech students offer apologies The football game last Saturday proved to be exciting and truly an experience for all those in atten dance. I am proud of both football teams and of their growing abilities. One thing that I am not proud of is the after-game activities that includ ed vandalism and disrespect on both sides of the Texas stands. As major universities, both A&M and Texas Tech must encourage better ways of showing school spirit and sportsmanship. I am confident that Texas Tech will make the changes necessary to ensure greater success in these areas while not doing any thing to harm the pride we feel for our Red Raiders. On a personal level, it is my hope that those injured on both sides of the altercation recover quick ly and that those responsible for the brawl see the error in their ways. Indeed, both Texas Tech and Texas A&M are schools dedicated to tradi tion, pride and spirit. It would be a shame for those few misguided indi viduals on both sides to tarnish the image of our schools. I know that we can reach a positive solution and work toward another truly fantastic game next season. John D. Steinmetz Student Body President Texas Tech University On behalf of the Texas Tech stu dent body, I would like to send my deepest apologies to the Aggies that traveled to Lubbock this past week end only to receive a dose of “West- Texas Hospitality.” The behavior displayed by those who stormed the field after the game was totally inappropriate. These “fans” (at A&M they would be called Two-Percenters because they are the first ones to give up and leave when we fall behind) acted without an ounce of dignity or class. I assure you that the actions of this minority do not accurately represent the feelings of the majority of the Texas Tech student body. We are as appalled by their actions as you are. An investigation is already under way to find and punish those responsible for these inappropriate acts. Hopefully those students who embarrassed Texas Tech will learn what real school spirit and true sportsmanship is so that when you travel to Lubbock in 2003, you will receive a much more friendly wel come and will be treated with the respect you deserve. Chris Carr Texas Tech University Class of 2004 Discrimination is reason to ban ROTC In response to Jonathan Jones’ Nov. 6 column: Harvard and other Ivy League uni versities are right to protest the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell" pol icy by banning ROTC programs from their campuses. Jones calls the move “ungrateful” and “intolerant,” but what is truly ungrateful and intolerant is the way the military and the United States treat homosexu als. Homosexuals participate in every facet of our society and helped found this country. Homosexuals have been loyal American citizens since day one, and have certainly done their best for “duty, honor and country.” Despite these facts, homosexuals are still treated, in many ways, like second-class citizens — not permit ted to have legal recognition of their romantic partnerships nor given the right to serve their country in the armed forces. This is intolerance; this is ungrate fulness. Universities such as Harvard have a policy stating that they do not allow organizations that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation to operate on campus. The simple fact is that ROTC does discriminate on these grounds. Harvard obviously feels it can do more good by throwing its institu tional weight behind homosexual rights than by allowing as handful of preppy Ivy Leaguers to run around playing soldier once a week. Josh Lee Class of 2002 SBP should speak for students In response to The Battalion's edito rial on Nov. 1: Thank you for holding the elected student leaders to their responsibili ties and for holding the administra tors to their commitments. Schuyler Houser’s silence on the Bonfire issue has left many students won dering about her commitment to a successful Bonfire. As student body president, she has a responsibility to inform the students on her stances and actions regarding issues that affect us all. After all, she said in The Battalion on March 22, “As a student, I am making a commitment to fellow stu dents in running for office that I will not lose that commitment, nor my relationship to the student body, as SBP.” Thank you for your editorial stating the need for immediate action to save Bonfire. It is unacceptable that certain stu dent leaders do not engage with their constituents, find out their views, and express those views to the administration. They are not per forming their jobs. Tyler Dunman Class of 2003 Accompanied by 75 signatures