Christians constitute campus majority
Editor:
A few days ago in A&P [Anatomy and Physiology], my professor was lecturing on the issue of embryonic stem cell research. After relating the various possibilities and limits of this research, he turned the discussion to its political and moral implications.
This professor described how cells harvested for such research are taken from in-vitro fertilization cultures that would otherwise be discarded. He then detailed how fundamentalist groups were lobbying to halt ESC research even though it holds the potential treatment for many incurable diseases. These groups protest the ‘murder’ of a 64-cell blob whose lack of an identity is precisely what makes it medically.
Moments later, I picked up The Colonnade, and I was confronted by a fundamentalist editorial complaining that Christianity was being silenced in the classrooms. Despite the fact that more than 90% percent of Americans are Christian and American culture is inundated with Christian principles, this editorialist wished to paint a picture of eroding Christian rights.
In our democracy it takes thousands of lobbyists and lawyers (many of them Christians who understand the importance of a secular government) just to keep fundamentalist values from steamrolling over the rights of those they demonize. Must our public institutions of education champion faith over science because the Christian voice isn’t quite as deafening in the classroom as it is in every other facet of American life?
Now, I am not against Christianity. I just think that, with its dominant position in American culture, it should welcome a critical eye, not play the victim.
Paul Cato
Post Baccalaureate Student
Biology
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 1 2004. Filed under Opinion.
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