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Thursday, April 17th. 1997
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http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/ ~ ode
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LETTERS
Corrupt money
Until I came to this University
last fall, I thought a school’s pur
pose was to educate. I am so re
lieved to know that, like the out
side world, colleges are more
concerned with money than the
betterment of mankind. What else
could explain the apathetic atti
tude of this conservative vestige,
the ODE?
The editorial concerning Phil
Knight’s donations (April 7, ODE)
said that fear was “unwarranted.”
Why is this so? Pres. Clinton is ac
cused of allowing foreign influ
ence on his presidency for Asian
donations of much less than $25
million. Also, Clinton is probably
more trustworthy than Frohn
mayer because he didn’t keep any
of the money for himself.
People say there was nothing
wrong with the donation because
Knight gave the school a huge
sum of money, which we greatly
needed. This is true, but Frohn
mayer could have rejected his
take or put it into a trust fund for
whoever is president after him.
Thank you also for insulting the
intelligence of your readers.
“Blind paranoia... is unneces
sary and hurtful.” Of course it is.
But the inhumanity of Nike is ob
vious to both the general popula
tion and the enlightened ones
here at Phil Knight University.
When your workers make only
26 cents an hour, how can you
justify donating $25 million? Why
not throw just one million of that
back into the company to raise
wages in Indonesia?
I am insulted that the editorial
board would all be as close mind
ed as to all "blindly” support such
a ridiculous editorial. The fact re
mains that money is the number
one priority on this campus.
Early this month, we learned
that the Rolling Stones can’t play
here because they will interrupt
the football team’s schedule. And,
as I found out, the football team is
not an opportunity for students
but a “cash cow.”
Then Monday brings the end
less Phil Knight funding saga.
What will be the next issue where
the University chooses cash over
what is right? I’m anxiously await
ing your editorial on that one.
Anthony Kullen
History
Religious freedom
In the April 11 issue of the
Emerald, I noticed Nicole Kristal’s
editorial about the Heaven’s Gate
suicide relating to Christianity. I
became offended when Christiani
ty was referred to as “one of the
largest cults of them all, sedating
people with the Bible.”
I believe this statement is inac
curate. Christianity is not a cult
and neither is any other religion.
A religion only becomes a cult if
there is an obsessive devotion to
the group, like what happened
with the Heaven’s Gate cult.
I believe that people do think
for themselves and choose what
they want to believe. Believing in
the Bible does not “deprive” any
one of “sexual desires” or cause
people to “dwell in unnecessary
shame and guilt.”
The Bible is to help people lead
better lives and to live Christ-like.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say
to kill yourself to catch the UFO
behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
Nobody is forced to “follow
other people’s ideology.” Every
one has the freedom of choice to
choose what they want to believe.
Christians believe in the Bible be
cause they want to, not because
they surrendered their freedom of
right “by allowing another institu
tion or person to think for [them
selves].”
Kristal writes, “You were born
with the right and responsibility
to think for yourself.” This state
ment is correct. People do think
for themselves. Just look around.
There are Mormons, Lutherans,
Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists,
Catholics and many more reli
gious organizations.
Kathleen Norgaard
Pre-Journalism
Cheap shot
Nicole Kristal’s editorial on re
ligion (April 11, ODE] makes
some strong statements about re
ligion that are very misleading. In
defense of the religious views
held by those on campus and
around the world:
Religion is not “surrendering
your right to think for yourself.”
Granted, you will find a few peo
ple sitting serenely in every house
of worship who will blindly fol
low their religious leaders but
only very rarely (as in the case of
Heaven’s Gate) will you find that
a religion requires you to “check
your brain at the door.”
People often invest a good part
of their lives to the study of reli
gious texts and philosophy, and
many go as far as receiving doc
torates in these fields.
Kristal states, “Why think for
yourself when you can lazily pick
up a black book that will tell you
how to lead your life?” If I wanted
somebody to tell me how to lead
my life, I would move back home
with my mother.
Religion is offered as a guide to
life choices and is subject to inter
pretation. For example, look at
the large number of Christian de
nominations present, all of which
use the Bible as their text.
We feel that Kristal is taking a
cheap and uneducated shot at
Christianity. Perhaps this is be
cause it is a religion that has tak
en a great amount of criticism in
the PC wave around college cam
puses in the U.S. and now at the
University of Oregon.
When Kristal insults religion, is
she also talking about Judaism?
About Navajo religious cere
monies? About Buddhism?
Religion in any form is a crucial
part of many cultures around the
world. No religion deserves to be
treated with such a lack of re
spect.
Sonnet Bruerto
Renee Vineyard
Spanish /Anthropology
Illogical leap
In the April 11 Emerald, Nicole
Kristal writes, “Religion is still the
opiate of the masses.” The Heav
en’s gate cult is the base of her ar
gument. She is correct — when
people don’t think for themselves,
tragedies occur. The Heaven’s
Gate cult is certainly an illustra
tion. However, Ms. Kristal makes
a large and illogical leap when
stating that Christianity is a cult
that does not allow free thinking.
Ms. Kristal must distinguish be
tween cult and religion. The dic
tionary defines a cult as “a reli
gious group made up of dissenters
from an established or parent
church.” A religion is “a system
and profession of faith or wor
ship.”
The Heaven’s Gate was a cult;
they did not follow the Faith as
expressed by Christianity. Castra
tion and belief of a spaceship
trailing the Hale-Bopp comet are
not doctrines of the Christian
church.
Further research on Christiani
ty would show Ms. Kristal that
free will is a basic doctrine of the
Church. We choose from the most
trivial to the most important:
what clothes you wear, what ma
jor you study and what religion
you follow. The Church gives
more freedom than our daily
strains of compulsive advertising
and peer pressure.
If Ms. Kristal is going to assume
that all religions are opiates, she
must consider all religions. Ms.
Kristal failed to provide any rele
vant examples of cults and reli
gious sedation in Judaism, Islam,
Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism or
other religions. She ought to con
sider further research before pro
ceeding with any subsequent con
jecture.
Gonzalo F. del Real
M.B.A. Student
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