Students arguing with Brother Jed ‘naive and ignorant’

I must declare my embarrassment yet again with my peers on campus. Brother Jed Smock has come again, as he does in the spring semester, and with him he also has brought his arsenal of arguments and social commentary. While I am not a Christian, I believe that Jed is right on many things he comments on and that my peers who argue with him just come off uneducated, naive and ignorant. I have no problem with what Jed says, whether I agree or not, yet I find it so fascinating that he unnerves so many of my fellow students. Are you that unbelievably insecure in your beliefs and feelings that a harmless old man preaching makes you so frantic? It seems to me that it is a symptom of a bigger problem, whether it is guilt or immaturity that plagues you. It also seems to me that the people who are the most militant with Brother Jed are the very same people who are promoting tolerance for homosexuality, other cultures, terrorists and all that jazz. Hey guys, be tolerant!!

Egg, sperm donation not equivalent

Comparing egg donation to sperm donation (Friday’s “”Pass/fail””) is a specious analogy. The differences in donor selection criteria, financial compensation and (most importantly) difficulty of extraction, make your entire argument pointless. This matter raises some very important questions regarding the limits of personal autonomy. It would be far more interesting if you chose to pursue those questions instead of painting the issue as an assault against women’s rights.

Muslim world responsible for mathematics, astronomy

I was highly entertained by Patrick McNamara’s letter discrediting Muslim countries for their contributions to the modern world. While McNamara is accurate on reporting statistics from his handy 2002 report by the U.N., he failed to look deeper into history. The Islamic world dates back to the year 570 A.D., yet he concentrates his findings on recent years. Does he analyze Greece’s contributions to modern society in the same manner?

The very numbers he was spilling out are in fact Arabic numerals. The Western world switched from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals centuries ago – so the statistics you were using to discredit the Arab world are indeed Arabic. I love the irony. The Arabs eventually adopted Indian numerals, which are in use today. Algebra and geometry, both Arab innovations, are also used in our Western society. Algebra is an Arabic word, coming from the word al-jabr. We also have the Arabs to thank for the preservation and further development of astronomy, which was forgotten during Europe’s dark ages. Arabs also gave large contributions to the world of poetry and literature. All of this took place during the flourishing of Islam before the Ottoman Empire ruined it for the Islamic world. Does McNamara really think the Islamic world was filled with nothing but men on camels with swords?

Is he really going to let those idiots causing riots taint his intellectual ability to conduct effective, unbiased research? Before he jumps on the anti-Muslim bandwagon, he should open up his mind and read.