Tuesday, October 26, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Letters
State not so wise Kerrey under attack
An Open Letter to Woodrow:
Dear Woodrow,
I was so sorry to learn from reading the
Oct. 20 Daily Nebraskan cartoon that you
are experiencing such confusion about the
Louisville Faith Christian School issue. Per
haps I can be of assistance.
Everett Sileven says that Nebraska
"oppresses religious freedom" because our
Wise State insists that it must decide who is
fit to teach the children1 of people who
belong to Sileven's religion. Sileven and the
rest of his congregation feel that they can
decide this better for themselves.
You , see, Woodrow, there are other
religions besides Catholicism, and some of
them don't agree with the Catholics that
our Wise State should have the right to
regulate who teaches their children. They
think that our Wise State has not shown
that it knows how to educate children
better than those "children's parents.
Sileven feels that he could understand
our Wise State putting him in jail better if
some harm had been done to the children
who have gone to his school. But this has
never been shown to have happened or to
even be a probability. In addition, Sileven
and his group know that one of the chief
ways that the government of the U.S.S.R.
and other countries oppress religious
groups is by bureaucratic harassment.
Frankly, Woodrow, I'm surprised that
yout friends at the Daily Nebraskan could
not explain this to you! They very often
print articles that accuse various levels of
government in the United States of lots
and lots of oppressive actions. I don't
know why they can't believe that a
religious group might be oppressed,
whether by design or more probably just
through insensitivity.
But maybe your friends were blinded in
this case by the fact that Sileven's group is
small. Or maybe they think that Sileven
probably would not endorse their enlight
ened political views and that he thus
deserves a little persecution. Or maybe it's
something else.
Well, Woodrow, I hope that this helps
out a little bit. I can see how such an issue
might be confusing to someone who's only
about 8 years old. What I can't understand
is why the nature of Sileven's .protest is so
hard for college-level adults t'd understand.
Terry J. Christlieb
graduate, philosophy
For the last few days, I have been hear
ing vague rumors that, in the desperate last
days of the gubernatorial campaign, the
Thone camp was about to begin a smear
campaign against candidate Bob Kerrey be
cause of his support of the Gay Rights
Ordinance.
Not having seen any evidence of such a
campaign, I assumed that the rumors were
surely unfounded. Imagine my surprise and
disappointment when I read in the Monday
Daily Nebraskan that Professor Nels W.
Forde of the UNL history department just
happened to decide to have a press confer
ence Friday to denounce Kerrey's stand on
the Gay Rights Ordinance.
In the first place, Kerrey has stated
clearly that, while he supports the civil
rights of all citizens, he is opposed to giving
special rights to the gay - or any other
minority. In the second place, the timing
of Forde's press conference strikes me as
depressingly significant.
Why did he wait until this last weekend
to riase this particular issue, when he says
that he has been concerned about it for a
month? Did he act on his own - or as part
of a carefully planned campaign of smear
tactics by the Thone camp? Interested
voters should watch their newspapers and
television sets to see whether Forde's voice
is one of independent concern - or of
partisan political mud slinging. If com
ments similar to this just happen to begin
appearing in the media, we will be safe in
assuming the latter.
Donald Qregory
associate professor, English
Mormons defended
Kris Christlieb's letter to the editor
(Oct. 19) was appalling in its misinforma
tion concerning the Mormon faith. It is
absolutely incorrect that Mormons are
not Christians. They most certainly are
Christians, and all of their beliefs are
founded in the teachings of Jesus Christ,
whom they recognize as the Son of God
and Savior of humanity.
What Mormons are not, however, are
Protestants, because their church is not a
derivation or reformation of the Roman
Catholic Church from which all Protes
tant religions originate.
Christlieb's comment that Mormons
advocated polygamy is partially correct.
Large numbers of Mormons did have
plural marriages, but it was not because
of "Christian" effort alone that the 'prac
tice was declared illegal. U.S. citizens,
including Jews, aetheists and many Mor
mons, worked along with "Christians"
to prohibit polygamy.
Sonia Johnson was not excommunicated
simply because she was pro-ERA. The
Mormon Church encourages political acti
vism by all its members, and there are
ERA supporters within the Mormon
church today.
Nor should Johnson's excommunication
be seen as an attempt at "silencing
women." Within the Mormon Church,
women have important roles as speakers,
Campaign . . .
teachers and leaders. Johnson was excom
municated because she made disrespect
ful, irreverent remarks about church
leaders. Such comments violate basic
Mormon beliefs.
I am not a Mormon, but I could not
stand by and see this kind of misinfor
mation go uncorrected. Mormons are
not some weird pagan sect, nor are they
misogynists. They . are Christians whose
particular doctrine has no room for ir
reverent remarks toward church leaders.
Denise Disney
junior, economics and political science
Continued fromPage 4
braska's citizenry. It is the
governor who must defend
against the extremism of
bipolar politics. Even with a
non-partisan Unicameral, it
is the governor whose duty
it is to fairly represent the
values of the public via a
system of management
capable of overcoming the
often short-sighted and nar
row interests of the urban
rural, laborbusiness orient
ed legislator.
When Thone entered the
governor's office he came
totally unprepared for
.existence in a moderate,
basically non-paftisan en
vironment. Thone's per
ception of politics rested on
the partisan game-playing of
the U.S. House of Repre
sentatives. The result was
that politic!, not manage
ment, has played the major
role in his governing of Ne
braska these past four years.
Governor candidate
Thone has neglected his
duty to perform as a moder
ate manager of Nebraska's
administrative or legislative
policies. He has added gross
partisanship to the state's
non-partisan Legislature and
has wielded four years of
political vindictiveness in his
attempt to garner political
power. The resulting mis
trust by Nebraska's legis
lative and judicial branches
has undermined the ability
of both to function in the
non-partisan independent
fashion in which they were
designed.
Candidate Kerrey, unlike
Thone, has recognized the
need not only to separate
politics from management,
but also to' place manage
ment ahead of state bureau
cratic politics.
Again, unlike Charles
Thone, Bob Kerrey will
place Nebraskans ahead of
re-election.
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