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Show Nov. 2, 1984 Forum Page 2 Cartoonist Confronts Stereotypes From Biblical Perspective by Karin Jaffie As a nationally syndicated cartoonist, he makes light of human relationships and sometimes throws in a little political humor. As a public speaker he is intelligent, informative and at ease with his subjects and audience alike. As a private person he is witty, likeable and reflects a gracious inner moral character that makes his eyes sparkle, his voice dance and his life worthwhile. He is Tim Downs, 30, the author of the comic strip Downstown and who recently spoke to two Westminster audiences on Self Image' and Atomic Sex: How to Have a Blast and Avoid the Fallout in cooperation with the Campus Crusade for Christ organization. non-partis- Downs has been drawing his comic strip for almost 10 years this spring. He began drawing it while in college at Indiana State University. I had a couple of characters, he said, and I was in college so I wrote a college comic strip. The original Downstown had two roommates. Then I brought in a fraternity man, Downs said, I had a roommate who was a waiter so I brought in a waiter. In a way I wrote my own life. After getting out of college. Downs expanded the strip into different settings so that it was no longer a collegiate strip. Downstown is now a strip oriented toward young singles, although Downs himself is married and has a he deals mostly with human relationships. I believe life is made out of relationships, Downs said in his atomic sex lecture, "and they fall into a few basic categories. Theres your relationship with yourself, your relationship to the people around you, and then ultimately your relationship to God. Downs presented his speech to an introduction to psychology class and lectured on self image in a world religions class on Friday, Oct. 26. Downs visit to Westminster was scheduled by Jon Strain who is the on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, a student-ru- n Christian organization. Downs is also on the staff and spends about half his time working for it. He joined the organization &s a freshman in college. envirI grew up in a totally onment, said Downs, "so I was not of great non-religio- faith or anything. I liked rational things you had to give me reasons to accept things. According to Downs, Campus Crusade was able to provide him with reasons enough. He said, I ran into Christians who could do that when I thought there was no such animal. But there definitely is. Coming from his point of view, Downs knows that there is and always will be people with some doubt andor suspicion when it comes to reliorganizations and people affiliated with gion. He handles this by speaking with people on pertinent topics in a biblical perspective. Downs said when he speaks with people, he likes to be able to present the same ideas that caught his attention. I like to speak and I like to speak rationally, he said. I like to show reasons for things and I find that people greatly appreciate the chance to hear it that way. Downs graduated in 1976 with a major in Fine Arts. My emphasis was on graphic design, he said. The only experience in public speaking Downs has had has been in the field. He said, My background in speaking is speaking. I did some in college on behalf of Campus Crusade and now I speak for them about 150 times a year. With no formal education in public speaking, Downs feels that one just gets more comfortable as he or she goes along. How does Downs handle lecturing on subfrom a biblical jects such as sex and The biggest problem in speaking perspective? on difficult subjects is the stereotypes that are nut there, he said. When it comes to discuss noncon-clusional- self-estee- ly m ing religious issues, he said, people have been yelled at today and there ha3 been some name calling people just dont like dealing with emotional things. These are issues I think the bibie had a lot to say about In his lecture Atomic Sex: How to Have a Blast and Avoid the Fallout Downs, stresses the necessity of having good verbal communication in a relationship as a prelude to engaging in sexual intimacy. He believes in what he calls an "ancient idea that sex is meant for marriage. I believe that marriage has developed because in one way it is an environment within which sex can flourish. if done rightly, should provide all theMarriage, environments of love: the environment of good communications, the environment of commitment and the environment of trust and freedom so that sex can become all that it was ever meant to be. Not to confine you or restrict you, but to free your love. This, Downs feels, is the biblical perspective as opposed to the interpretation that sex was meant solely for procreation. He Continued on page 7 j Correction In the last issue of the Forum, an article on homecoming and an advertisement for homecoming incorrectly stated that the varsity soccer team would play the club soccer team on Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. There will be no varsityclub soccer game. Presidential Candidates Debate Social Issues Ronald Reagan Tim Downs addresses intro to psych class. College Women More Sexually Conservative by Susan Skorupa women apLAWRENCE, KS (CPS)-Coll- ege parently are less active sexually than they used to be, a new survey suggests. , The current conservative trend on campuses could be responsible for the declining student sexual activity, reports the recent survey of University of Texas female students. Five years ago, half of UTs female students had sex at least once a month, compared to 38 says University of Kansas percent in 1983-8psychologist Meg Ger rard, author of the survey. Gerrards survey, her third of UT women in 10 years, questioned some 100 students about their sexual attitudes. Not all of the results have been analyzed, but Gerrard speculates it could be part of a larger conservative trend in sexual activity as well as in political and ideological values. Theres no question in my mind that this is a nationwide trend. 4, Pinning the declineonconservatismsounds plausible, agrees Joseph Katz, human development professor at the State University of New Brook, but the implications could run deeper. An easing of the sense of having to conform may be a factor, he comments, It could also mean a greater acceptance of traditional York-Stone- y mores. Katzs own studies of student sexuality in the .7 sixties and seventies revealed student opposition to premarital sex declined from 50 percent to 10 percent from 1970 to 1975. And the percentage of undergraduates who had engaged in premarital sex rose from 50 percent in 1970 to 78 percent of men and 72 percent of women in 1977. Continued on page 8 This is the last in a three-pa- rt series on the Presidential Candidates stands on key issues. The series was reprinted to better inform the Westminster community on the issues before going to the polls on Nov. 6. Used by permission, copyright 1984 by U.S. News and World Report, Inc., Vol. 97 No. 14, Sept. 24. 1984 Walter Mondale |
