Wednesday, March 19, 1986
Page 4
Daily Nebraskan
Univtrtity o( Nebraska-Lincoln
NU needs new policy
The recent ASUN campaign
once again raised the issue
of alcohol on campus.
The emphasis of the Party
party's campaign platform was
correct: It's time for administra
tors to accommodate students'
demand for alcohol on campus.
Currently, service of alcohol is
permitted on campus only with
administrative approval. But the
object of this policy admittedly
is not primarily to serve the uni
versity population; rather, it ent
ices greater use of the Nebraska
Union's catering capabilities by
"mixed" universitynon-university
groups, said Daryl Swanson,
Nebraska Union director.
If a university group wants to
use the union for a depart
ment party, for instance alco
hol service typically is limited to
wine. If you're a student group,
don't ask.
But more hurdles remain. If a
group actually gets approval for
alcoholic consumption, it must
follow a host of strange require
ments that make actual service
difficult.
For example, the customer
must bring the alcohol, but the
union must serve it. The union
cannot charge for the alcohol,
but it can charge for serving it.
Adopting alcohol on campus
would require a shift in union
philosophy. First, the union food
HiyfflSe aftermath
Data needed, details unnecessary
As NASA officials continue
to find parts of the Chal
lenger shuttle and crew,
attention shifts to the press as it
reports progress of the search.
Since the Jan. 28 explosion
that killed all seven people
aboard, the media has tracked
the progress of the search. They
have informed the country of
what has been found and how it
all fits into the picture of trying
to find the cause of the disaster.
Similar attention, although not
as much, has been given to the
astronauts' remains.
As the investigation into the
shuttle situation continues, we're
likely to discover more about the
rivacy and courtesy
Library not the place
Disturbing evidence of sex
ual activity in Love Library,
has some students con
cerned. Irrespective of other issues
such as sexual practices and
orientation, the practice should
not continue.
First, such behavior is impo
lite. Constitutional arguments
on sexual activity almost always
stem from the notion that sexual
behavior is one of the most pri
vate aspects of human conduct
so private that conformity to a
prescribed pattern of sexuality
should not be forced upon others.
Vickl Ruhga, Editor, 472-1766
Thorn Gabrukiewicz, Managing Editor
Ad Hudler, Editorial Page Editor
James Rogers, Editorial Associate
Chris Welsch, Copy Desk Chief
service policy should focus pri
marily on serving the university
community. There, is no reason
that all-university meetings
should be limited to wine con
sumption. Second, the union should be
allowed to get a liquor license
and set up cash bars for groups.
Discretion on who could be served
should be largely taken away. All
university groups should be
allowed alcohol unless there is
some reason to believe that abuse
of the facilities or law will occur.
Restricting alcohol access to
university members while allow
ing liberal access to the univer
sity members while allowing lib
eral service to mixed functions
is patronizing. There is no reason
to continue to restrict alcohol.
Although there are several
logistical problems with serving
alcohol, the union exists primar--ily
to serve the university, and it
should serve alcohol.
A large segment of students
and staff are older than 21. There
is no reason why these people
shouldn't be allowed a glass of
beer or wine with lunch, supper
or after a night meeting.
The time is ripe for change.
Students over 21 and the univer
sity staff do not need the NU
Board of Regents to paper them
with silly alcohol restrictions.
explosion itself and the effect it
had on the crew, or when they
actually died.
But the media, both broadcast
and print, should refrain from
providing the country with the
visual details. Some media
accounts of the Challenger
tragedy have included questions
of whether the bodies had started
to decompose or if the seven
occupants had been eaten by
fish. Such details aren't neces
sary in piecing together the cause
of the tragedy.
Families of the seven astro
nauts and the country in gen
eral will remember the explo
sion, but they are ready to go on.
for sexual activity
But when sexual activity is
conducted in public areas, oth
ers are forcibly exposed to con
duct that which they might want
to avoid as is their right. The
choice of forum for the activity,
and the privacy rights of others,
not the activity itself should be
emphasized.
NU students should feel free
to use Love Library restrooms
without fearing disturbance or
offense.
Library administrators shall
continue to take steps to halt
sexual behavior (heterosexual and
homosexual) when it intrudes
into the public sphere.
a issi mm &il wfmL
Study's claim correct, but truth is function, not form
With the 1984 election dispute
over the role of religion in polit
ics well behind the nation, cooler
heads are re-examining the issue
and coming to some startling conclu
sions. One such re-examination is the
recently released Brookings Institution
study "Religion in American Public
Life," by Brookings senior fellow, A.
James Reichley.
The Brookings Institution has long
been recognized as one of the most
prestigious "think-tanks" in the U.S.
The impact their studies have had on
American public policy far outdistan
ces the Institution's public notoriety
(or lack thereof). This study deserves
the widest possible circulation.
The surprise is the strength of the
study's conclusion regarding the in
ability of secular thought-systems to
provide an intelligible basis for demo
cratic society. Reichley writes: "The
fundamental flaw of secular civil hum
anism as a basis of democratic values is
that it fails to meet the test of intellec
tual credibility."
Arguing as an increasingly large
number of Christian thinkers have, the
study points out that a humane society
cannot reasonably be built upon a non
theistic or an anti-theistic base, Reich
ley writes that "a combination of the
self and society, held in balance as
dual sources of ultimate value, cannot
plausibly be found in nature without
reference to a third value source. Using
purely natural criteria, either the self
or society must finally be regarded as
sovereign."
If either of the latter two points are
embraced, the study argues that only
inhumanity results.
The lucidity and breadth of the his
torical and philosophical survey make
the study important. The work serves to
frame the current debate, and casts
down an intellectually credible gaun
tlet to anti-theists who blither "separa
tion of church and state" as though the
phrase ends the discussion.
At bottom, Reichley's argument
strikes at the very core of asserted sec
ular civil justifications: Civil secula
Senators' alarming letters get bucks
During a recent telephone conver
sation, a relative said he had
received a letter from Sen. Robert
Packwood (R-Ore.) and had some ques
tions for me: What sort of guy was
Packwood? Did I know that the letter
said there was a "conspiracy" to deny
him re-election because he was a friend
of Israel? What should be done? Easy, I
said. Throw the letter in the trash.
There are many reasons to admire
Bob Packwood. He is a leading propo
nent of women's rights. He is a Repub
lican moderate (virtually an oxymoron
these days), a champion of civil rights
and a wise and conscientious senator.
fTWASMCONTWS!
AFTER ROUND OF US,
HITMAN AID
rism doesn't work; socially, secularism
is non-instrumental.
At the same time Reichley doesn't
ignore the possible excesses of civil
religion. He points out that "value sys
tems based in one way or another on
religion must be scrutinized to deter
mine how transcendent moral author
ity or inspiration can be maintained in
a democratic society while minimizing
the risks of bigotry, fanaticism, irre
sponsibility, and obscurantism that
some tendencies within religion have
all too often fostered."
James
Rogers
While I agree whole-heartedly with
the lamentable political tendencies
among some of the religious, it is in
treating the form of politicalreligious
engagement that the work finds its
major weakness.
While arguing that the only credible
value systems are necessarily religious
and not secular, Reichley insists upon
valuing religion upon instrumental
grounds. This leads to the advance of
some silly statements.
For example, at one point Reichley
argues that if Catholicism were to sur
render its claim "to be the one true
church" American pluralism would be
impoverished "because the option of
choosing an institution claiming uni
que spiritual authority" would "no
longer be available." Thus, according
to Reichley, the value of the Roman
claim is not that it is substantively true
(although it is not), but rather that it is
instrumental: namely that its assertion
provides an otherwise unavailable reli
gious option. Substantive truth and
instrumental value cannot be so divided.
Works such as Reichley's "enlight
enedly" offer churches an assertedly
"sweet deal." They recognize and accord
the church the important duty of serv
ing as social cement. But the deal, bib
Few flies stick to Bob Packwood.
But one of them is his willingness to
be just another politician who panders
to the paranoia of the Jewish commun-
Richard
Cohen
ity. The "conspiracy" that recently
alarmed my relative apparently does
not amount to much. Packwood has
been able to turn over $32,000 of his
,own campaign funds to the Oregon
u
lically speaking, is not sweet enough.
The intrinsic worth of Christianity hardly
lies merely in the fact that it is a social
cement.
Now, I certainly agree that the truth
of Christianity is socially instrumental
Christian societies flourish because
God blesses his people. But Christian
ity is not true because it produces
societies that flourish. Instead, because
the religion is true, it produces socie
ties that flourish.
Christianity's claim to produce in
strumental good rests only upon its.
prior religious claim to sufficiently
encompass the fullness of all that is
true. Prior affirmation and belief in
that which was delivered "as of first
importance" is required. Namely "that
Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures" 1 Cor. 15:3.
This substantive claim is not distinct
from the good it produces. Yet by dis
tinguishing between instrumental good
and substantive truth, Reichley implic
itly severs this link. And in so doing he
severs the ability of religion to produce
the type of societies which are good.
This flaw only renders Reichley's
argument incomplete, however. The
argument can be made, within proper
limits, that because the truth always
works (socially), that which truly
works (socially) must be true. None
theless, it is questionable that the lat
ter argument, in spite of Thomistic
arguments to the contrary, can persua
sively result in the adoption of Chris
tian theism.
All things considered, however,
Reichley's study is of the utmost im
portance and should be thoughtfully
studied. This is especially true of non
theists who have unreflectively remained
content in their social philosophies
and blithely argue that separation of
religion and politics results in cultural
advantage.
Rogers is an economics graduate stu
dent, law student, and DN editorial page
editor.
GOP to help it regain control of the
state legislature. It is not immediately
clear how this will benefit Israel.
Packwood is certainly not the only
poiltician who knows how to milk the
Jewish community. Sen. Alan Cranston
(D-Calif.) is another. A recent Cranston
letter says he is in trouble for, among
other things, his steadfast support of
Israel. Unlike Packwood, Cranston does
not shy from naming the culprit. It's
Jesse Helms (R-N.C), who is probably
the best fund-raising issue the Demo
crats have had since the Great Depres
sion.
See COHEN on 5