Show I I A Hole in my Soul How To Get A Key To The Pearly Gates I 1 once had the opportunity to tomake tomake tomake make friends with a very successful scientist and on several occasions we talked about his personal system of beliefs The man was something of an anomaly because although he was logically minded and extremely intelligent he was also a devoted Christian with a firm belief in God Anyway one day this scientist was discussing religious dogma with witha a close friend and shared a point on the debate between creation vs evo evo- lution He said the idea that life randomly randomly randomly ran ran- and spontaneously began then evolved over millions millions' of years to eventually become the modern human is so mathematically improbable improbable improbable able that its it's akin to a tornado blowing blowing blowing blow blow- ing through a junkyard and piecing together a airliner with the scrap parts The story was not told as an effort in conversion but was simply a thought-provoking thought statement The friend as it turns out was a strict atheist and apparently didn't like having his thoughts provoked The whole incident was the genesis for a series of uncomfortable confrontations confrontations confrontations that caused a schism between the t two What one party thought of as asbe be y fan interesting n sting story tuf turned ed out to be the b beginning ginning of the end for a friendship Now a point could be made here for overreacting but one could also argue that my friend should have known better beUer Theres There's an old axiom suggesting that friends should never discuss religion or politics as it will likely change the nature of their rela rela- Its It's interesting that religion and politics would be lumped together in such a fashion but its it's absolutely true There are few things that people hold so dear as their ideologies Furthermore nothing will change one one persons person's opinion of another quite like expression of a spiritual or political political political ical opinion that differs their own Often the reaction is so sudden and drastic that an individual could go from kindred spirit to anathema in one afternoon Part of the problem is that theres there's theresa a giant difference between a good spiritual devout person and a fanatic but often those who dont don't prescribe to any particular discipline dont don't see i It becomes V V something like He who wh dies with the most I i 1 love loveT T Jesus' Jesus bumper Nathan Nelson stickers wins Managing Editorial Editor it that way Most of the volume high-volume religious activists see the path to redemption as a big contest It becomes something like He who dies with the most I love Jesus bumper stickers wins Certainly there are religious and doctrinal differences Obviously when you have professors of faith that believe their path to be the correct correct correct cor cor- one there will be instances of conflict I 1 may be completely convinced convinced convinced con con- vinced that my position is THE correct correct correct cor cor- and true one but so is my friend who lives just down the street As one human being to another I dont don't have the right to tell my friend that his beliefs are wrong The point is there are good decent people everywhere One need not be religious to have moral fi fiber er erand and understanding and on the same token not all devout churchgoers are ignorant or intolerant Politics is pretty much the same cup of tea Again in any given situation you will see both ends of the spectrum There are good decent hardworking work hard ing public servants who involve themselves to try to honestly help others Then there ther are politicians Heres Here's where this becomes more more obvious Take our own college political political political ical system for example This last scho school l year and the resulting elections are a perfect microcosm We had politicians who abused their positions and tried to rule the Student Association and we had public servants who tried to tomake tomake tomake make a difference and saw their unique positions as a chance to boost those around them The elections weren't any differ- differ ent We had one candidate who ran because an authority figure con con- vinced him to We had people with conflicts of interest that refused to resolve them We had people using unethical campaign practices Then there were a few who ran because they could influence change for the better Some who vied for a position because they have the b backbone backbone back back- ck- ck i bone to make the right decision even when its it's tough to do so Heres Here's the irony of the situation Politics have more of an effect on our lives than we choose to admit but only on a civic level Regardless of whatever anyone else may may- think student student student stu stu- stu- stu dent politics is a lab an experiment Y The decisions that face the Executive Council and Student Student- StudentS S Senate n te grossly y overestimated d Yes they have some sway over clubs and organizations but no major decision decision decision deci deci- sion could ever be made that the school administration couldn't over over- turn In other words the student government government government gov gov- is on a pretty short leash The fact of the and I t run the risk of being lynched for saying this both religion and politics are aregood aregood aregood good things t if handled correctly The negative stigma of both stems steins from the bad apples that ruin the bushel Some people and organizations oppose one another because its it's their role to do so The media is intended I to be a watchdog on the government Religion and state are supposed to be separate in order to assure freedom of belief The bottom line is it doesn't really really really real real- ly matter whether youre you're a Republican or Democrat saint or sinner sinner sinner sin sin- ner Christian Jew Buddhist or Zoroastrian Nobody's title or position position position tion guarantees them to be a good person Except for me of course But that's just kind of a given |