Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, September 26, 1934
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For years, the church has pteyed
an active role in demanding
change from government. Govern
ment, in turn, has absorbed many
of the moral values introduced by
religious groups.
The question becomes, then,
which demands are good and
which are bad. When do the
demands of one denomination
impinge upon the rights of others?
For instance, the church was
at the forefront of the drive for
the 1064 Civil Rights Amendment
and has subsequently strived
for racial integration.
However, Bob Jones University,
a private religious school, banned
interracial datin5and limited
the number of blacks that could
be involved in some school organ
izations. This policy caught up
with them last year when they
were denied tax-exempt status
by the federal government.
The American Civil Liberties
Union and the National Organi
zation of Churches stood with
the university although they also
supported non-discrimination.
These two groups thought tax
exempt status should not be re
voked if churches disagreed with
government practices.
What would happen if the
government decided to support
discrimination and many churches
did not? Could the government
demand taxes from churches that
it disagreed with on issues like
nuclear proliferation, defense ex
penditures in South America or
the Nestle's Infant formula ad
vertising in developing countries?
Another churchstate issue was
raised this summer when the Rev.
Sun Yung Moon, head of the Uni
fication Church, was jailed for
income t ax evasion. The Rev. Moon
kept church funds in his name
and did not claim them. If he
actually used this fund for him
self, then he should have been
found guilty, but he did not.
Many priests and ministers for
Catholic and ethnic churches also
handle their monies like the Rev.
Moon. Has another way been es
tablished to intervene in churches
that dont meet governmental ap
proval? Abortion is the religious issue
most talked about during this
presidential campaign. It is reli
gious because it revolves around
the question of when life begins
and therefore, when a life can be
taken. Opinions vary on this Issue.
It is not the government's right to
rule on this Issue of morality
because the correct roorab are
undeflnable. The demands of one
moral sect impinge on the rights
and morals cf another.
We need government officials
who represent our needs. We need
officials who are moral. But, we
do not need officials who will
define religious morals for an
entire population.
Kcma Eoderberg
Dally Ni-brssksn Staff Editor
Reagan campaign reels off into liberal paradoxes
Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign
is stepping so high, wide and plentiful
that the mind reels off into paradoxes,
including these two: Reagan is soaring
because he has restored trust in that
which he distrusts government. And
he is exactly in tune with the mood of the
moment, which is liberal.
One must take the bitter with the
sweet, but it must be bitter indeed for
Reagan to note that fate has played him
the scurvy trick of causing him, the
scourge of government, to rehabilitate it.
The ugly truth must be faced: When folks
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feel good about their country, some of the
feeling spills over and attaches to the
institutions of community life, the expres- has removed the irritant in the public's
sion of collective effort the govern- eye regarding government,
ment. There .are 80,000 governmental The public's liberalism, and Reagan's
units in this Republic, but one sets the benefit from it, is less apparent but even
tone the one Reagan has. And more important, and explains why the
"drats!" he may say contentment with Rev. Jerry Falwell's favorite candidate is
the presidency is spreading and contami- overwhelmingly the favorite candidate of
nating all of public life. voters aged 18-26. Eightyyears ago, Henry
It was especially reckless of him to James defined journalism as the science
reduce inflation. In the last decade in- of beating the sense out of 'words. It
flat ion became considered the principal certainly has done so to political labels.
domestic problem, and government was But it is no mere semantic quibble to
yxa
considered the principal cause of infla
tion. Inflation was the main reason why,
just two years ago, three-quarters of
those questioned in one reliable poll said
government causes more.problems that
it solves. The taming of inflation, for now,
insist that the essential aim of liberalism,
and the central liberal value, is the maxi
mization of individual choice. And that is
the feeling the aura produced by the
President's achievement, rapid economic
growth.
The illiberal aspects of the President's
program opposition to abortion, and
perhaps support for school prayer
have received attention disproportionate
to their importance to the electorate. The
Supreme Court, not the executive branch,
has for the foreseeable future, custody of
issues concerning abortion and church
state relations. With five justices in their
late 70s, a President can make a profound
difference on the Court, but that is a
contingency too remote to be controlling
on the minds of many voters.
The conservative temperament is, at
bottom, incorrigibly skeptical of the abil
ity of human plans to eliminate the rat
tling bumps from the road of life. But
Reagan is infectiously serene about the
evaporation of deficits and all other lim
iting facts, painlessly, under the heat of
economic growth. This, because he seems
easily to imagine that business cycles
have been banished.
Recently Reagan told an audience that
Americans should avoid "hedonism." It
was an enchanting moment, involving a
word not usually featured in American
politics. Arguably Reagan, by denouncing
the incontinent pursuit of pleasure, was
striking at the American Way of Life.
Certainly Reagan coming on as Cotton
Mather is singularly unconvincing. He is
our President Monroe the man for the
era of good feelings.
But he also should be a man of some
public thinking. He should soon pick a
serious forum for a serious speech about
the future not another speech cele
brating optimism of God or Grand Ole
Opry or the last four years. So far his
campaign has set a tone, which is fine, but
a tone is not a song and he can be, more
than anyone in modern memory, the
naiton's singer the presenter of a
vision. However, he must do it now.
When he becomes a four-year lame
duck, he will have only the momentum
built in the next six weeks. If his mandate
is merely to not be Mondale, his term will
be sterile. Twenty-two Republican sena
tors face re-election in 1986. His party
will be fractious and distracted. If he just
coasts to victory, as he perhaps can Uf he
chooses to, he will lack the weight to hold
his party's attention. So an October cam
paign of more rhetorical risk would be an
act of grace an unforced policy of
statesmanship.
. 1834, Washington Pest Writers Groap
JhiglbsBMcaii-
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1' iAlIlE S'CFlISSlCDi MSiMS
Welcome, readers, to the land of New Midwestia,
established in the year 2000.
The King's Crusade acainst Gays and AIDS is in full
swing. The Kings militia The Right Guard has been
ordered to stop AIDS dead in its tracks.
The King's New Order of Medical Mythology has disco
vered that AIDS and gays with AIDS are a threat to
straight mankind similar to the bubonic plague of the
Middle Ages.
Tf
M3n
The New Order ofMedical Mythology also determined
that AIDS will wipe out half of Midwestia's homosexual
male population. But then, that's OK.
So anyway, the King closed gay bars, gay baths, public
toilets and boys locker rooms. Homosexuals have to
register with the Right Guard. Scarlet IVs are painted on
their pinky fingers. And their movements are tracked by
means of homing devices in their earrings.
It's a cold, windy evening in New Midwestia's capital
city. The streets are practically deserted. The Right
Guard SWAT team is cruising a residential area in an
unmarked tank.
Captain Chest hair, leader of the SWAT team, notices a
suspicious light in an attic window.
"STOP." he shouts in his most manly voice. "Over
theref
The SWAT team leaps athletically from the tank and
storms the house. Leaving no stone unturned, Captain
Chesthair finally finds five men towering in the attic.
"Homos!" cried the Captain, in his next most manly
tone. "Take them, menf
Captain Chesthair rubbed his 5 o'clock shadow glee
fully. His team had filled their homo quota.
Back at headquarters, five men stand beneath a sin
gle, 2,000-watt bulb burning in the ceiling. Squinting,
shivering, Suspect 1 must face the Inquisition Sergeant.
IS: Occupation?
1: English professor.
IS: You were found in possession cf subversive, seditious,
pernicious, pro-homosexual materials forbidden for
public consumption.
1: 1 was reading Plato.
IS: Plato is forbidden. Greeks were hemes.
1: Look, you cant expect me to teach the Bible and
Harlequin romance novels in every class.
IS: Military history is not forbidden. Also "Gone with the
Wind" and James Dond stories.
1: Give me Oscar Wilde cr give me death!
IS: Guilty. NEXT.
(Suspect 2 steps forward.)
IS: Occupation?
2: Waiter.
IS: You were seen in the company of known homosexu
als. How do you plead?
2: Not guilty. Look, I'm straight. I'm married to a
straight. Ask my wife, shell tell you how straight I am.
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