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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1992)
Opinion People need religion Church attendance neccessary for values Webster’s defines religion as a specific system of belief and worship. According to that definition, only 50 percent of Nebraskans and 40 percent of Americans are practicing a religion. A recent survey asked 1,200 Nebraskans “Have you attended a religious service in the past week?” Bill Stems, a graduate student in sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, compared the answers of people in the state to nationwide results determined by the Gallup Organization. On the national level, 40 percent of the people surveyed reported attending a church service weekly. Nebraskans reported in slightly higher at 50 percent. Stems also compared several demographic characteristics of church attendance by age, sex, denomination and marital status. Only Christian religions were analyzed because, according to Stems, responses from other religions were too small to be scientifi cally analyzed. So, if only half of the American population is going to church on Sunday or Saturday, what is everyone else doing? Washing cars? What happened to morning walks to church hand-in-hand with Mom? What about sitting in Sunday school watching, enthralled, as the teacher put paper heroes on a felt board? Or how about silting in big church with a tom open offering envelope and a pencil, drawing pictures and passing notes back and forth? Stems said Nebraskans carried strong beliefs bccausereligious behavior was a part of their life they passed on to their children. He attributed this to the conservative nature of Nebraskans and their religious traditions. Churches have always been strong initiators and pillars of traditional values. If half of America isn’t attending church at least once a week, not to mention what they do throughout the rest of the week, where are they getting their values from? Friends, television, music? Children should be getting their values from their parents. It is the parents responsibility to instill high moral values in their children. If children grow up with a skewed sense of values, it is not completely their fault Granted, children must mature and make their own decisions, but they should be provided with a high set of qualities and rules to judge by. Because parents are failing at this responsibility, their children are lost and society has no direction. And the tradition will continue, child after grandchild. What will the results of a valueless generation be? Just lode around. AL -EDITORIAL POLICY Staff editorials represent the offi cial policy of the Summer 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem bers are: Adeana Leftin, editor; Cindy Kimbrough, features editor, Jeff Singer, copy editor; Stacie McKee, photo chief; James Mehsling, art director. Editorials do not necessarily re flect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edito rial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. --LETTER POLICY The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all read ers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publica tion on the basis of clarity, originality, , timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion is left to the edi tor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. 1 I » Are POWs alive in Russia? The Cold War has melted away, yet it was still bizarre to see a picture of the first ladies of Russiaand America walking hand-in hand, and to hear reports of their almost affectionate chitchat as they loured Mount Vcmon, home to George Washington, father of our great coun try. This scene for a photo opportunity was in marked contrast from the inter action between the respective previ ous first ladies, barely restraining their claws to show the world that Cold War tensions were thawing. Boris Yeltsin was recently in this country for summit talks, and he ad dressed a joint session of the Senate and House, where he surprised many by stating that it was very possible that there were American POWs still alive within theconfmes of the former Soviet Union. rrojeclions went oacKwara to me 1950s as to when the earliest POWs had been detained in the Soviet State. Korean and Vietnam POWs could very well be alive within the formerly formidable Soviet stronghold. It is astounding to consider that there could still be Americans held captive for a war that we pulled out of in 1973, let alone earlier conflicts. I am severely skeptical of Yeltsin’s claim that there are still live POWs taken during the Vietnam era and even further back in military tactical history. With our vast CIA effort and their high-placed defectors, I think we would have heard definitive word — that is say, beyond the rumor mill — before now, when we may have Yeltsin merely evoking the ghost of Vietnam for political purposes. Don’t get me wrong. I would hope that the MI As would arrive on Ameri can soil tomorrow, but the skeptical side of me wins out, telling me that it is highly unlikely that POWs arc still being held and breathing. Perhaps I need the assistance of the conspiracy-minded Oliver Stone, but I don’t see the realistic motivation of the United States government to con > spire, to this late date, to keep any valid information about live POWs secret and undocumented. The scars of Vietnam still pain America’s spirit. With the question of POWs never seeming to be fully an swered or respected, Vietnam will continue to be a sore spot in America’s heart. Those that are in the limelight with this issue should not exploit it for money or political points; those that are truly concerned should just get the job done. I suppose it is worthwhile to enter tain the possibility, for a moment, that POWs are still alive. After all, the Soviet Union was immense in size and secrecy, with many remote out posts where labor camps could hide Americans. For that matter, they could have been covertly inserted into so-called psychiatric institutions, where drugs and doctors could both subdue their bodies and bend their minds. One shudders to think what condi tion a man could be in after two decades in a foreign labor camp or mind-fixer prison. Given, it POWs still exist and can be brought back, how diff c ult it would be to get them reintegrated in America with freedom and family after at least 20 years. They would be psychologi cal wrecks and might possibly need years of readjustment therapy, if they ever could adjust to that 20 year abyss, with their wives having given them up for dead and gone on with their lives and children having grown up not knowing their faithers. The role of Father/Husband would have to be reinvented from scratch, if even pos sible. The freed men would be semi alien, almost from another world. WitnessTcrry Anderson’s sometimes difficult adjustment period, and mul tiply it exponentially. Supposing the other sad but more realistic possibility, that if in the past, the Soviet Union did covertly sneak in American POWs, they would have murdered them in a couple years after they outlived their usefulness for po tentially divulging any useful mili tary secrets. In the context of the Cold War, it would have been impossible to grace fully and diplomatically let them go and face the wrath of the world com munity, especially the United States. Now that Boris Yeltsin is safely ensconced back in Moscow, we can mist he is talking turkey with the powers that be with regard to the POW issue, if indeed it is a real issue in his mind, instead of just a political maneuver. Yeltsin is still suspect diplomatically. We must remember that he was made by the Communist system that he now rails against, some times in a startlingly despotic matter. His bold, rebellious actions against the coup showed us he has strength, but to what ends will he apply it? Is he an honest or a ruthless political bro ker? How will he act in the interna tional sphere, given his parochial, apparatchik background? Is Yeltsin claiming American POWs are still • • . . r _ _ J •_ anvc jum tu luimci uisucuH Gorbachev’s reputation in America? If we Americans find out Yeltsin is merely lying and maneuvering, America will be even more reluctant to deal with and help his troubled, chaotic, needful nation. Honesty in this emerging “friendship” between America and Russia is of the most supreme importance. There is no place for dirty tricks, especially a trick that could unjustifi ably raise the hopes of families that have fallen to despair time and time again. If Boris Yeltsin does know that Russia has them, he should return them posthaste. Let the explanations and maneuvering come after the home coming of these long-suffering men. If Yeltsin was merely posturing for politics, he should promptly and forth rightly apologize. After all, egg on his face is better that toasted on a • plate. There, now we can all hold hands again. Tudd K. Burger isa junior philosophy major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.