ASU
State Press

“Christianity not at risk – here, at least”

Recently, conservative Christians have been up in arms over President Obama’s health care mandate that would require church-affiliated universities and hospitals to provide birth control as part of their insurance plans.

Ex-presidential candidate Rick Perry released an ad that claimed, “You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” Perry vowed to end Obama’s “War on Religion.”

These examples are two of many that represent the alleged “War on Christianity” in the United States. Religious groups and politicians have used this cry to clinch votes – or maybe they naively believe their faith is actually in danger.

The reality is that the Christian faith in the United States has not faced any risk and it continues to prevail unscathed.

When was the last time you saw a Christian being questioned at the airport for sporting a crucifix? Does carrying a Bible often attract disapproving stares?

The fervor of conservative politicians to cry wolf is shameful, especially when there is a real war on Christianity occurring halfway around the world.

It is detestable that politicians in the United States are falsely portraying themselves as victims in order to paint some moral image or a false advocacy for religious freedom when there are real victims dying and suffering in other countries. The political gains of politicians are coming from the false representation of their struggle and the underrepresentation of the genocide of Christian minorities in the Middle East.

Politicians are right. The “War on Christianity” is prevailing. That war is occurring halfway around the world, though. We should­­­­­ no longer stand for the whining of politicians who drown out the cries of the real Christian victims.

— Emilie Eaton, Feb. 19 issue

University of Washington
The Daily

“‘Sorority Girls,’ The Show”

“Have you seen it?” Kelsey asked me brusquely of the new TLC show “Sorority Girls,” while wearing a disenchanted expression. I looked up. A swarm of girls in my sorority house were gathered in the TV area, booing and yelping in exasperation. I figured the noise was about “The Bachelor” or a Husky basketball game, but no, it became clear something was amiss. I ran over to the scene. The screen was displaying a string of greasy blonde girls, which at first seemed entirely conventional for trashy TV. The image then switched to a shot of said blondes wearing floor-length black … robes? Adorned with hot-pink Greek letters? No. What? It had to be an error — this looked to me like an Obi-Wan Kenobi Barbie cult.

There was no way I was witnessing this heinous sorority depiction.

The evil leader or, I suppose, the president, started to get emotional in her close-up frame. With her neon lips and carroty skin tone, she looked like a sepia version of a human. Promptly, I wanted to get a garden hose and spray her down.

A promotional montage of the show began and my mouth dropped open. Oh God, there was so much more to see, and it was excruciating. Mind-splitting. All of my pride in belonging to a Greek house had been mocked, spat on and belittled by the footage.

The greasy girls on “Sorority Girls” are directly representing “American sororities,” and the show is based on bringing college Greek culture to Great Britain. Nice. Ultimately, the manner in which sororities are displayed is unbelievably inaccurate and offensive.

When you type in “sorority girls on TLC” in YouTube, it has a 93 percent “thumbs down” rating. It looks like other women are thinking exactly what I am. I expect this show to be cut off very shortly, and if it’s not, it looks like I’ll be flying over to Great Britain — garden hose in hand.

— Olivia Zech, Feb. 13 issue

Oregon State University
The Daily Barometer

“National solidarity needed to retain greatness”

It might just be a sign of the times, but the waning power and influence of America seems to be in the forefront a lot these days. And I can’t help but see signs of it here and there, too.

We aren’t in decline quite yet, but it’s as if the façade of our greatness is beginning to look a little shabby. However, if we don’t start looking at the root causes of it soon, we could be facing a long slip into irrelevance and decline.

And its cause isn’t any of the usual suspects. Our country is waning in power, not because of the loss of manufacturing jobs, the rise of China or as idiotic social conservatives would posit, a loss of morals and the legalization of gay marriage. It isn’t because of any external factors or influences. It is because of something that has changed fundamentally within the soul of the nation.

Our nation is losing its sense of national solidarity, our sense of togetherness, the binds that have held a polyglot nation of immigrants and native peoples together for so long.

We need to step up to the challenge of our times. We need to come together again as a nation. We need grand ideas and to be on the cusp of innovation again. We need to revive our national sense of optimism and the idea that out of many different parts we can create one united whole.

If we are to regain this, steps need to be taken to build up our national solidarity. We need to remove the economic barriers that are dividing up America.

If we want to be great, we need to recreate a sense of duty and service to the nation and its people. And we need to make sure that even the lesser among us have a chance in this system.

— Don Iler, Feb. 20 issue