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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2000)
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J Tuesday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com Got Faith? SCRIBBLES OF SANITY JAYNA BERGERSON There is faith at the Univer sity of Oregon. While attending the Uni versity, I have heard issues ranging from diversity and culture to beer guzzling and streaking. But somehow faith doesn’t seem to be on the list of stereotypical college issues. Philosophy, yes. Religion, sometimes. But faith? Not that I can remember. Perhaps it is because too many people assume that faith is only connected with reli gion. If you know or follow a religion, then you must have faith, right? W.A. “Billy” Sunday explained that “Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Makes sense, just like going to the University makes you a student, but being clas sified as a student doesn’t make you smart. However, it is impor tant to acknowledge that religious faith does exist. In histo ry, most martyrs died for their reli gious beliefs. Joan of Arc may have been accused of a lot of things, but lack of faith was not one of them. So, you can have faith without re ligion just like you can have religion without faith. Therefore, faith can be more than just a belief in a higher power or an omnipotent being. At a college committed to the study of science and philosophical pondering, faith almost seems out of place. A full definition of faith means complete acceptance of a truth which cannot be demonstrat ed by the process of logical thought. It's faith if you can’t prove it but you believe it is true. In that case, I know practically every student at the University has experienced faith — the illogical belief that despite rarely attending class, sleeping through the lec tures you did attend and never studying, you will, by some mirac ulous interposition, pass the final exam. That's faith! Then there is the notion that faith is not academic; therefore, it has no place in a university. A uni versity is characterized by studies that are liberal or classical in na ture. What is more liberal than faith? Faith allows you to have, ex press or follow views and to act or express those views any way you choose. That is a liberal definition. I once heard a student say that in today's world, faith no longer applies. Well, someone needs to tell the rest of the world. According to Adherents.com, a Web site that monitors participa tion in various religious groups all over the world, two billion people identify themselves as Christians and 1.3 billion people claim the re ligion of Islam. Nine hundred mil lion people are adherents to Hin duism. Another nine hundred million profess to be agnostic, non-religious or atheist. It is the belief that a high er being does not exist. This is faith because, let's face it, we can’t demonstrate it. There is no way to prove whether there is or is not a higher purpose or power, so it’s all faith. And that is religious faith. It doesn’t include everyone’s blind faith that death will not occur to day. Everyday, whether you realize it or not, you are living by faith that you will make it to tomorrow. Consequently, there is faith on the University campus. It's diverse and it varies, but it’s here. And let's not look at it as a bad thing. In the words of Oliver Lodge, “Never throw away hastily any old faith, tradition or convention. They may require modification, but they are the result of the experience of many generations.” Jayna Bergerson is a columnist for the Ore gon Daily Emerald. Her views do not neces sarily represent those of the Emerald. She can be reached at bjay@gladstone.uore gon.edu teed your head! Get information first on dailyemerald.com LAKUL lEln CAROL RINK When Nike CEO Phil Knight halted all of his personal dona tions to the University, more than 75,000 of you read about it online before any paper went to press with the story. When you missed yesterday’s news and couldn’t find an Emerald lying on the floor in class, you came to the Web. And when you actually graduate from this University, you’ll want to keep in formed about campus news and events, and yes (gasp), you will even want to read the Emerald — online. but when you want breaking news, as well as sports, community, entertainment, and opinion coverage, the only place to go is www.dailyemerald.com. Sure, you can find all of these stories in the paper you’re reading right now, but daily emerald.com is different. As online editor, it’s my job to make it that way. daily emerald.com embraces cutting-edge technology with exclusive material — feed back, message boards, interactive online polls and extra sections you won’t find in the daily print publication: The Moving Guide, 100 Years at the Oregon Daily Emer ald, and the recently-added Elections 2000 — a compilation of Emerald articles about the 2000 presidential elections and online voter information. Coming soon, you’ll also find a weekly online-only tech column, written bv myself for all you computer geeks, Internet junkies, or friends that simply want to make fun of my attempt to bridge technology and college life together without the lingo of a profes sional computer tech magazine or the fluff of “U. Magazine.” Think of it more as an edgy and sassy “Wired” article, but don’t hold me to it, either. If you don’t want to read my thoughts and opinions, write your own. One of the more popular features on our site is feedback — a way for you to spill out your own ideas on Emerald articles. If you thought “The Princess Bride” was inconceivably the worst ‘80s movie ever, but our staff loved it, tell us. If you want to speak your mind about cur rent events or campus news such as the Uni versity’s decision to join the WRC and FLA, post your comments. Selected stories have their own feedback box, which can be found on the bottom of the page of each story. Feedback posts are not letters to the edi tor, but with permission may be included in the print edition as well. And as online edi tor, I have the right to edit for length, content or obscenity. Remember, this is a forum for discussion — respect your audience and make comments the way you would like to be addressed, and above all, RESPOND to other responses. There’s nothing more bor ing than a message board with only one re sponse, so communicate with each other just like we used to before the glorious in vention of the Internet and e-mail. That was n’t too long ago, was it? Well, what do I know? I’d be out a job if it wasn’t for the Internet. Carol Rink is the online editor for the Ore gon Daily Emerald.She can be reached at webmaster@dailyemerald.com New scientific study reveals shocking findings: Glitter rocks! DIARY OF A MALCONTENT MICHAEL I. KLECKNER OK, I’m mad. The Pulse staff are clearly biased against glitter wearers. They are anti glitterites of the highest order. In Thursday’s Pulse, the ‘‘15 Minutes” feature had a sur vey on glitter use. Their ohviouslv-biased survey found 64 percent of respondents thought glitter was pesky, as opposed to 36 percent who thought it was pretty. This is a concerted effort to eliminate glitter from our rave-cool world, and I’ll have no part of it. So I did my own poll, using advanced randomizer statistical techniques (such as finding people who didn’t run from me) and a cross-pollinated sampling of the student body (pollinating a student body is fun), and here’s what I found: Out of 30 responses, 19 thought glitter was “fun" or they “love it.” That’s 63.333 percent in favor of glitter. Seven people thought glitter is “dumb” or “juvenile” or “trying too hard” (that’s 23.333 percent op posed, y’all). And four people were indiffer ent or said it depended on the circum stances (13.333 percent). For some weirdos, everyday glitter is not copacetic, but on spe cial occasions it passes muster. My findings plainly dispute the Pulse staffs efforts, and you’ll notice that my sur vey is much more science-dude-like, be cause I had three possible responses, not just a measly two (plus, I u l three decimal places in my percentages). I uess this clears that up. Glitter rocks! In case you still doubt tilt upremacyof * glitter, just listen to the wb n of Frog: “I think it’s a great accessory. oody should be without glitter!” Letters to the editor as the recent Yahoo! ads. While they are a Mad about Yahoo!? Lighten up 1 want to applaud the Emer ald for running such an origi nal and amusing ad campaign little ott-color, they are certainly not worthy of the controversy they have sparked. I encourage the editorial staff to show a little chutzpah and keep running the ads. My prediction, however, is that you will cave to the demands of petty whiners with too-thin skin. As for all of you self-ap pointed PC police, I say “light en up.” Nobody cares about your indignant letters, nor does anyone care that you lack a sense of humor. Brandon Oberlin sophomore CORRECTION The headline for an Oct. 2 front-page stc on Depart ment of Public Safety cars equipped witt d and blue lights should have read “Department of Dlic Safety ve hicles violate statutes.” The Emerald regrets the error.
