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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1994)
Religious tolerance not easy Is religious bias different from racial bias? Is it easier to discrimi nate against a religion and get away with it than it is to discriminate against a particular race? Religion has some special qualities and is perhaps the most precious thing a person can own. But that doesn’t make it OK to discriminate against other reli gions. I’ve pot a bias that says unless a church is at least as old as the Mormon religion, it can’t be as lepitimatc as other more established religions. I know this is ridiculous. However, it is not by mere coinci dence that I prefer the Orthodox church, which is arguably the oldest Christian church in the world. Somewhere, somehow, I’ve gotten the idea that a religion has to be old to be good. By old, I mean at least 200 years old. Even with all of my complaints about the Catholic church, I’ve never questioned its right to exist. But I have questioned the motivations and doctrines of other “newer” religions, simply because they are new to me. I’ve been recruited heavily by the Mormons, Moonies and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’ve wor shiped extensively as a Catholic, Unitarian, Methodist, Mormon and finally, Eastern Orthodox. “Newer” religions make me uncomfortable. They always seem to be trying to recruit new members by just walking up to them. It seems awfully rude to do that, because religion is such a personal thing. rve been approached by “newer” Christian groups before. It always takes a lot of effort to persuade them to go away. They always persist. Just once I’d like to be ap proached by a Moonie or a Jehovah’s Witness who would take “no thanks” as an answer without my having to repeat it several times. Just once! Somewhere, somehow, I’ve gotten the idea that a religion has to be old to be good. By old, I mean at least 200years old. ■ _1 Recruiting someone who doesn’t ask to be recruited is an attempt to take away their religion. To assume a person’s religion needs to be replaced is insensitive and ex tremely arrogant. Some religious strangers have moved into my neighborhood, and I’m concerned. As with any new neighbor, however, I’ve welcomed them with a smile and a handshake. Regardless of our religious differ ences, I always greet them cor dially. My new neighbors are from two different Christian organizations. One organization is a group that in recent years has been accused in a certain local college newspaper of being a cult. Some of its members live together in a house two blocks from mine. Every morning around 5, one of them walks up the block shouting praises to “Jesus ’’ He’s loud, and he has awakened my family a few times, but no harm done. The other new neighbor belongs to a church I had never heard of. I knew something was wrong — not with them but with me. I was uncomfortable, because I expected them to start canvassing the neighborhood for new members. I was more worried about that than anything else. So what if they canvassed for new members? It wasn't so long ago that in this very neighborhood people were canvass ing to gain support for another I reason. This is the neighborhood in which I grew up — the same neighborhood that did not welcome | my family when we moved here. It is the neighborhood that in 196S had a petition drive to make my family move away because we were black. “Haven’t I learned anything from racial discrimination?” I thought. At least these people were doing something positive. This is also the same neighbor hood whose Methodist church we attended until the day one of its greeters told my dad, “I’m not gonna shake hands with a nigger.” I hope I have learned from my experiences with discrimination. I hope that by my being discrimi nated against, 1 have learned not to do it myself. Our next-door neighbor came to warn us about the people with the petition. And although she re mained friends with most of them, she also remained a close friend to my family. I’m sure that to her, we were good neighbors — for colored people. Like that neighbor, I would warn my new religious neighbors of any attempt by others to reject them. But I’m not capable of accepting them entirely. I think I’ll start asking God to help me out in this area. Shanlu I* a graduate student and a Dally Nebraskan columnist Shield children from gay life In the fight over gay rights, Ray Massey came out swinging for the good cause. All he got in return, however, was a cheap shot below the belt. Two weeks ago, Massey came before a University of Nebraska Lincoln committee in charge of a 4 H youth camp near Gretna. Massey proposed that the committee delete sexual orientation from the camp's new nondiscrimination policy for camp counselors and employees. The committee approved Massey ’s proposal 20-15. When news of Massey’s proposal broke. Dr. Ken Bolen, dean of UNL’s Cooperative Extension, contacted Massey. After consulta tion with UNL’s affirmative action office, Bolen decided to remove Massey from a search committee of which Massey had been a member. Massey’s committee was searching for a director for the Southeast Research and Extension Center, which oversees programs such as 4 H Even Chancellor Graham Spanier specifically said that Massey, a UNL faculty member, was removed from the search committee because he would not agree to follow UNL’s nondiscrimi nation policies. In return, Massey defended his position and proposal. In a telephone interview, Massey said, “Nebraskans, especially the parents of children attending the camp, don’t support policies protecting homosexuals. “And more importantly, there is no information saying children are not at risk in a homosexual lifestyle. So, this is really a questior of whether we’re willing to put our children at risk.” Dr. Bolen, Chancellor Spanier and the affirmative action office may disagree, but Massey has grounds tor being reluctant to expose 4-H campers to gay counse lors and employees. For children and adolescents, sex is overwhelming and confusing in any case. To be deluged with ho mosexuality is the last thing they need. The gay community, it seems, has specifically targeted children in its effort to rid society of “homophobia” via “education and enlightenment.” Children — . without a full understanding of sex or morality — are the gay movement’s key to public accep tance. Here arc some recent examples of gay sensitivity training for America’s youth, as relayed by syndicated columnist Don Feder in a spring issue of the Conservative Chronicle: • Last Valentine's Day, a group calling itself the Lesbian Avengers — and wearing shirts reading “WE RECRUIT” — invaded a Spring field, Mass, elementary school. The Avengers handed out candy and literature, explaining that “Women who love women arc OK and listed a number providing “explicit messages.” • In New York City, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center held a February forum for high school peer leaders. Children as young as 12 were instructed on hazardous sex techniques like lesbian fisting, whips, sex toys and other “cduca i tional” material. Though reports like these are disturbing, they have become more common. And now the results of such gay influence and “guidance” are being fully realized and understood. The most shocking of those results came last July, when The Washington Post reported that bisexuality and homosexuality have become the “in” thing among the high school and junior high set. Some students in the Washing ton area were sporting pink triangles, kissing members of the same sex in the hallways (“to see what people will say”) and telling reporters, as one high school student did, that “Everyone is bisexual, if you ask me.” As an organization, 4-H was created to instill the standards and norms that form the basis of conduct and custom in a decent society. To surround influential children with people practicing a lifestyle that is at endless war with human nature and experience is self-defeating and morally deca dent. It is a mistake when any organi zation adopts a nondiscrimination policy that equates homosexuality with being Hispanic or female. Disapproval of homosexuality is not like racial or gender discrimi nation; there is nothing wrong with being Hispanic or female. But because of the health and social complications that come with homosexuality, it is perfectly reasonable to question the gay lifestyle. 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