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.
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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.