4a Opinion Tuesday, May 1, 2001 Perspective For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Faith integral to philosophy and science I've been fairly amused at the thumping some of my Christian colleagues have been taking on the Kansan opinion page as of late. Although I am a Christian, I tend not to wear my faith on my forehead (or my T-shirt or my bumper), and I always find it interesting to watch other people explain their particular belief systems. their participation. However, I've noticed that lately my fellow Christians seem to be perpetually on the defensive, and in the process of defending the faith are unable to mount an effective critique of their critics' cherished notions of the twin monoliths of science and philosophy. Apparently, Christianity is no longer relevant because it doesn't explain "reality" very well. It also seems that those who continue to hold on to Christianity do so only because they need faith in a deity to provide them with security and a system of morals that is provided better by science and philosophy. However, upon closer inspection, science and philosophy may not be quite as clairvoyant as they seem, and may in fact require greater leaps of faith than religion. Robert Chamberlain columnist opinion@ansan.com In Christianity, God creates the universe. There is no antecedent to God; God is without roots. In astronomy, the universe is without roots. Maybe someone from Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics can tell me what the universe was like when it was less than 10 to the -46th power seconds old and why it suddenly popped into existence. Actually, maybe they should tell the physics department, too. Word on the street has it that the universe was both infinitely hot and infinitely dense, and that there is a lot of dark matter. And a mysterious "Fifth Force." It seems to me that both "belief systems" have creation stories that require a little faith to believe in them. Furthermore, science is continually evolving. Most of us have chuckled to ourselves at one time or another about the silly things our ancestors used to believe. It is supremely arrogant to believe that our descendants will not also chuckle about us. That being the case, it seems almost fool-hardy to be informed of the truth by a system of "facts" that are simply waiting to be proven wrong. proven work Religion tells us that people have souls. Philosophy rephrases the concept into the "mind-body" problem. Maybe some atheist out there can explain why I'm myself, and where I can find my selfhood in my body. If my selfhood is immaterial, perhaps someone can tell me how it causally interacts with the material world. causally interacts with the maker has worked. In fact, while we're at it, perhaps someone can philosophically justify the existence of an external world at all. It seems to me that a belief system grounded in "reality" would at least be able to prove that such a thing existed. If you come up with an answer, drop by the third floor of Wescoe Hall. I'm sure the philosophy department will be glad to hear that someone finally solved the skeptical problem. tent: Christianity espouses a system of morals based on man's relationship with God. Philosophy offers us several competing moral systems, each of which is riddled with holes. In fact, it may be the case that there is no such thing as a totally philosophically justified theory of morals. It seems to take a pretty big leap of faith to trust a system to yield answers when the system itself is arguably incapable of doing so this is not to discredit science and philosophy, which give us neat things, such as penicillin and PlayStation 2. It is merely to observe that both the guitar-strumming bearded Christian and the black, turtleneck-wearing, coffeehouse Nietzsche buff both understand their reality in terms of faith, not knowledge. so notore people smugly pat themselves on the back for rejecting silly, outmold religious systems, they would do well to ask what it is that we've chosen instead. We may turn out to be much less clever than we feel. Chamberlain is a Topeka junior in political science. By the Numbers 36 Number of drug-related arrests made on the University of Kansas campus in 1999. 20 Number of drug-related arrests made on the University of Nebraska campus in 1999. 9 Number of Iguor-related arrests on the KU campus in 1999. 74 Number of liquor-related arrests on the Nebraska campus in 1999. 32% Percent increase in liquor-related disciplinary actions or judicial referrals on the KU campus from 1997 to 1999. Source: U.S. Department of Education 136% Percent increase on the Nebraska campus. Perspective True diversity includes several minority groups For all I've been hearing about minorities on campus these days, it's surprising how few people understand what a minority is. Both coalitions in the Student Senate race made minority recruitment and retention central to their platforms. Recent protests by the Black Student Union against this very newspaper have drawn attention to minority coverage But what is a "minority." exactly? If one listened to the BSU, or the Senate coalitions, you'd basically get one answer: minorities are African Americans. Indeed, the whole "minority-majority" divide of this campus has been reduced to a simple. Black White continue... A nice, simple answer. And a totally incorrect one. There may be more African-American students on campus than some other minority students, but that doesn't discount the presence of other demeaned groups. Clay McCuistion columnist opinion@ansan.com took place during Queer folks have traditionally been an important part of KU and Lawrence life. The University even has a part-time resource coordinator for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered people. I didn't see Delta Force or the VOICE coalition make increasing enrollment and retention of queer students a cornerstone of their platforms. KU and Lawrence Pride Week 2001, sponsored by Queers and Allies, just wrapped up (and yes, traces of bias present here are probably because I'm the historian for the group), for example. Nearly 1,000 people were served by the various events and performances that took place during the week. much it can do to directly recruit students based on sexual orientation, and how much it can ask them in surveys. it's easy to hide behind how the federal government doesn't include queer people as part of the official diversity roster. The University is, to a certain legal extent, limited in how Let's face it: It's so much easier to just look at skin color. An administrator or student senator knows for sure when an African-American student complains that a "real" minority is speaking. It's so much harder to imagine that minority students might actually be hiding in the crowd of blank White Kansas faces. But the difficulty of the task doesn't make retaining queer students any less important. It doesn't make crafting a campus that's open and accepting to all people any less important. And it doesn't make concentrating on easily definable diversity any less contemptible. How many hate crimes and tragedies of harassment and abuse against queer students does it take before we can be included as part of the "divere campus" touted in University brochures? How much more evidence does it take to show that queer folks are indeed recognized as a legitimate minority group by many in the campus community? If 400 students turn out in front of the Kansas Union on a Friday morning to watch drag queens, doesn't that simplify something? I am only touching on the problem, of course. Queer students are one of many diverse groups that are ignored or only given token appreciation. What about the Asian students, the graduate students, the Jewish students, the Hispanic students, the Muslim students or any of the other groups that are excluded when the "diversity problem" is cast in strictly African-American and Caucasian terms? It's time for the student and administrative leaders at the University to reconsider the concept of diversity from the ground up. Who has been left out? Who could be served better? And why are we all so scared of working to include students that could make the University of Kansas a model institution? We are constrained only by our own prejudices and fears. McCoiation is an El Dorado senior in journalism and English. Editorial Legislators should OK tax increase Lawmakers must keep students in mind instead of blindly slashing taxes. Earlier this year, Gov. Bill Graves recommended cutting the University of Kansas' budget, including millions of dollars earmarked for technology. Two weeks ago, Graves made a wise choice: He decided to leave in the technology matching funds. He also recommended giving money to the University and other Board of Regents schools to help offset outrageous utility bills. But last week, state legislators rejected Graves' recommended KU budget subsidy. In doing so, they have prolonged the University's worsening budget woes. Legislators should have followed these recommendations simply for the sake of keeping the universities afloat in tight times. But because the additional money probably would have spawned a tax hike, legislators struck down Graves' proposal. So Graves created a compromise; he proposed raising the state sales tax from 4.9 to 5.1 percent. Some of the revenue generated from that would aid universities and public schools. Legislators should approve this small increase. Obviously, the state has limited options when dealing with a budget shortfall of this severity. Lawmakers can either decrease funding to vital programs such as education or they can increase revenue by raising taxes — something they hate doing because so many of them have kept their seats by blindly slashing taxes. Graves has found a logical compromise to satisfy miserly lawmakers, as well as the institutions of higher education crying out for relief. The quality of education in Kansas must not suffer, but taking a hard-line approach with legislators who won't budge will not solve the state's budget problems. Moreover, funds such as the technology fee money are critical to making the Regents universities competitive in recruiting and retaining students. And once again, legislators have the opportunity to keep this worthy program alive. They must not stonewall the interests of students any more than they already have. Spencer Farris for the editorial board New! Post your own message and view others in the online Free for All, or join message board discussions on a variety of topics. www.kansan.com/forum Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, visit www.kansan.com. Besides the fact from I have a 15-mel plan, and I only eat at E's for about four days a week, for some reason, I lose my KUID for three days now, and I have to pay a $$$ fee every time I eat now. I guess I'm just not going to eat for the rest of the year. 题 图 For everyone who likes to complain about the KU parking department, I just like to say: Quit parking where you not supposed to, you idiots. 缅 In response to all the Christians out there talking about disserving God with picking and choosing passages from the Bible. You might want to rethink what you just said. I thought the Bible said something about loving everyone and not judging people and condemning them. Isn't that for God to decide, not you? Reread your Bible. 界 As Bob Frederick leaves as the athletics director, hopefully, so will mediocrity in all sports. Thank you, Kansan, for that ridiculous article on skinheads. How about tomor row you do one about punks, the next day hippies and the next day preps? That way, we can all be stereotyped and classified even more. 南 I think that people are not born gay, I think that guys turn gay because women are too much of a pain in the butt. 图 Can you imagine how many parachuters would be killed if the parachute hadn't been invented? 图 解 二 OK, so my roommate and I were talking, and we decided that we'd go ahead and call in now and maybe we could start a petition to make sure the Kansas quarter does not have wheat or sunflowers on it. Whoever agrees with us, call the Free for All. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how dirty and filthy Wescoe cafeteria is these days? 图 GTAs who ask for a living wage are not whining. Undergraduates who ask for their papers the day after they turn them in — well, that starts to go over the line. Anybody who thinks there's nothing good about the Jayhawker Towers was born with a silver spoon in their mouth and probably still has diapers. 310 As if the dorms aren't ghetto enough, do they really need to rip us off on our meal plan also? How to submit letters and quest columns Letters. Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions. Guest columns: Should be double-spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run. All letters and guest columns should be emailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Chris Borriger or Nathan Wilis at 864-4924. 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