A NEW PERSPECTIVE OF PASSOVER
To the Editor:
I appreciate the editorial (Fair Weather Liberals: Wake Up) clarifying a few things about the Passover discussion. However, I feel I should say something since I am the one who organized it. Campus Crusade reserved the room because I asked Ramon, who is a friend of mine, to do so for me. I did not put CCC’s name on the flyer because the extent of their involvement was the room reservation. The purpose of the event was to create a forum where students could discuss their beliefs about Passover.
I would never try “to convince visitors why this should be their last Passover.” On the contrary, I believe Passover is an extremely important celebration, and, as a Messianic Jew, it embodies the very foundation of my beliefs. Passover is a reminder of how God is faithful to His people and delivered them out of slavery from Egypt. It also represents how God has redeemed everyone, Jew and Gentile, who accepts Him from the bondage of sin through the sacrifice of His son. Jesus has become the sacrificial lamb.
My main question to Mr. Carlin’s Cadenza article is: where does he get his statistics? He says, “A Jewish person, statistically speaking, is never going to convert.” First, a Jewish person does not have to “convert” to Christianity but simply accept Jesus as the Messiah. This does not negate their Jewishness but actually affirms it.
Secondly, I know many Jews who have accepted Jesus: my mother being a prime example. She was raised in a traditional Jewish family and attended WU 30 years ago. When she came to this “highly-educated community of young adults” she did not believe in Jesus. However, some Christian friends of hers cared enough about her that they shared the Word of God with her and prayed for her. Because of this she later came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
The goal of every believer in Jesus should not be to “convert” people, but simply to spread the Word of God and to tell people what Jesus has done in their lives. This should be done not just to “under-civilized areas,” but everywhere. Everyone has the right to either reject or receive Jesus as the Messiah, but they do not have the option unless someone presents it to them.
Jonathan Buchanan
Class of 2002
A DIFFERENT LOOK AT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
To the Editor:
Patrick McKenzie is back, and as usual, he’s completely wrong. First feminism, then the environment, and now affirmative action has surfaced as a topic of his ridicule and scorn. I sincerely hope that McKenzie reads the wonderful commentary by Yoni Cohen next to his article; he might learn something (though I’m not holding my breath). Considering the wonderful job Yoni did, I’ll try not to repeat him, but several other points on affirmative action deserve mentioning. First, no one in his or her right mind is suggesting that racial quotas be implemented. Obviously the national percentage of a minority population is not going to exactly match the percentage of said group on a college campus or an organization, but if there is a glaring disparity between the two (as is the case with African Americans and Hispanics on major college campuses), then something is afoot. Second, McKenzie dismisses the value of diversity, stating that “the purpose of universities is to educate.” However, who they educate is very, very important. Schools like WU are the breeding grounds for future scientists, captains of industry, artists, and politicians-the very people that will shape the 21st century. Without a diverse student population, the decision-making of the future will be made by a narrow window of the entire US population, and we will all lose something. Thus, affirmative action is very much the business of America’s universities. Last, McKenzie speaks on the debilitating effects of affirmative action on minority and female employees, since they will be forever labeled as “unqualified tokens.” Well, since when do we let racists make policy? Affirmative action states that race can be taken as one factor among many in the admission process-including legacy, a policy McKenzie has not placed on his hit list as of yet. Its role is to seek competent women and people of color, not to round up random minorities off the street. Recipients of affirmative action are qualified-earning their positions by the sweat of their brows and not their color, to paraphrase McKenzie-and if some of their fellow students and employees cannot see that, then those misguided persons are the ones with the problem.
Andrew Moore
Class of 2004