0 MARCH 1988 News Features
U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 7
MARCH 1988 U News Features U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 7
THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
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Collegiate Press
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VVIVIIVILir # tl#X L/ V "il #V1 i I
Public prayer outrages senior
America's war
over gun control
By Matthew Barry
The Diamondback
U. of Maryland, College Park
Last semester, I went to the annual
Honors Convocation, a ceremony at
which students receive certificates for
scholastic achievement. The first per-
son to step up to the microphone was a
minister and her first words were: "We
thank you, oh Lord .. ." I immediately
looked at the program to see if I was at
the right place-the U. of Maryland.
There are many students who are re-
ligious and who might agree with every-
thing the minister said. But there are
also many students who are not reli-
gious, who do not believe in supernatu-
ral beings and who do not pray. State-
supported schools should not be endors-
ing religion at its ceremonies. I am out-
raged that my school, to which I pay
tuition and support with my tax dollars,
invited me to an important secular func-
tion and then exposed me to religious
beliefs that I do not share.
The inclusion of prayers in an official
ceremony of a governmental institution
is a clear violation of the separation of
church and state.
The U. of Maryland is a public uni-
versity and has no business advocating
a religious belief. It also has no business
assuming that everyone who attends
these ceremonies believes in a deity and
wants to pray. Students should not be
excluded from any part of their gradua-
tion on account of their beliefs. But
these prayers necessarily exclude non-
*religious students.
I have been looking forward to my
graduation for a long time. But I refuse
to attend or to participate in an event at
which I will be insulted and made to feel
like an outsider.
I sent a formal complaint to the uni-
versity asking that the invocation and
I
By Michael Franzini &
Michael Witbrock
The Tartan
Carnegie Mellon U., PA
In 1983, handguns killed a total of
2 93 people in Japan, Great Britain,
Switzerland, Canada, Sweden and
Y Australia. They killed 9,014 people in
the United States. The other coun-
t tries all have strict handgun control
laws. The United States is estimated
to have 60 million handguns in cir-
culation. A new handgun is manufac-
tured every 20 seconds. Every 150
seconds, a handgun injures someone.:
The National Rifle Association
(NRA), one of the largest lobbying
forces in the country, spends millions
of dollars in advertisements designed
to promote weaker handgun laws.
' The NRA advertises its fight as one
-, for "constitutional freedom."
benediction be removed from future In 1985, an Iowa district court found The NRA shrouds all of its pro-gun
commencements. This complaint was graduation prayers to be unconstitu- legislation behind the Second
dismissed and the prayers remain on tional and wrote: "The First Amend- Amendment, stating that it guar-
the graduation agenda. ment right of the people to the free exer- antees every citizen the right
The university claims that these cise of religion does not give them a to own a gun. However, the
prayers signal the solemnity of com- right to have government provide them NRA rarely quotes the entire amend-
mencement. Are prayers the only way to public prayer at government functions ment: "A well-regulated Militia,
add solemnity? and ceremonies, even if the majority being necessary to the security of a
In my opinion, the combination of the would like it." free State, the right of the people to
national anthem and other ceremonial Ed Doerr, executive director of Amer- keep and bear Arms, shall not be in-
music engenders as much solemnity as icans for Religious Liberty, believes fringed." The gun lobby believes that
you'd ever want. that having a chaplain offer a religious the "well-regulated militia" encom-
The university claims that the prayer to a secular audience shows an passes all citizens of the country, in
prayers are permissible because college extreme insensitivity to the pluralism opposition to the Fifth Amendment,
students are not very susceptible to reli- of the student body and faculty. which identifies the purpose of the
gious indoctrination. However, a state In addition, the American Civil Liber- "Militia" to be "service in the time of
institution cannot endorse religion at ties Union (ACLU), a 250,000-member War or public danger."
any time, any place, or in front of any organization championing givil rights The courts agree that the rights of
audience. Governmental endorsement and liberties, fully backs my position the Second Amendment should be
of religion is unconstitutional. that the prayers are an inappropriate assigned a "collective militia" inter-
I support freedom of religion 100 per- endorsement of religion. The ACLU pretation.
cent. Students can pray through the en- sent a letter to the chancellor asking The gun lobby's opposition is
tire commencement for all I care. But that the prayers be removed. But, once steadily growing. Handgun Control
the government is prohibited from con- again, the university refused to give up Inc., a lobbying group with over one
ducting religious rituals. its prayers. million members, is responsible for
virtually every law against which the
NRA is fighting.
udent-journalists have no rights Conroml whinigednterstate
NRA from overturning the 1968 Gun
Amnmnt hs or dcso Control Bill, which banned interstate
.' , Amendment? This court decision handgun sales. Currently, Handgun
says that high school students are Control is in the midst of a struggle
not privileged to constitutional with the NRA to secure passage of the
' guarantees.
/atudent journalists examined Brady Bill, which would impose a
issues like teen pregnancy and di- waiting period and background
vorce-issues deemed "inappropri- check for all handgun sales.
ate for teenagers" but in reality hav- Handgun Control has begun to con-
ing a documented profound effect on vince the politicians that the govern-
them. ment must protect its citizens' consti-
.*. This decision marks the most bla- tutional right to life and that laws
s. TURNER, CALIFORNIA PeLYTFSHNIC, SANLIS SO~SPOtant ruling against the First Amend- which make it harder to obtain a
M.STANG DAILY ment in recent years. It is a crushing deadly weapon will serve this pur-
blow with still unknown ramifica- pose. But Handgun Control faces an
Moines Independent SchoolDistrict). tions for the college press. And, it uphill battle against the NRA, which
Is a school newspaper, produced offers a keen perspective on what we is backed by the firearms industry,
for a journalismclass, a public forum may expect from the Rehnquist whose existence is threatened by the
and therefore protected by the First Court. legislation.
Supreme Court: St
By Editorial Staff
Daily Nexus
U. of California, Santa Barbara
On January 13, the U.S. Supreme
Court sent a message to all high
school students: Shut up! You're too
young for your civil rights!
In Hazelwood School District vs.
Kuhlmeier, the high court ruled that
administrators have the right to "ex-
ercise editorial control" over student
newspaper content.
This ruling is a far cry from the
liberal Warren Court which, in 1969,
ruled that students "do not shed
their constitutional rights... at the
schoolhouse gates" (Tinker vs. Des