Separate church and state, not culture

To the editor:

Our government mandates a separation of church and state, not church and pop culture. If someone can use the Napoleon Dynamite phrase as a catchy theme for Beer-Bike, why is it a problem for him or her to use it as a catchy way to express religious beliefs (“God goods insulting to religious, secular groups,” Feb. 3)? I am a Christian and while I would not necessarily design or buy a shirt that says “Jesus died for Pedro,” I do not see why it is a problem if someone else does.

I do not mean to sound cliche, but we practice freedom of speech in this country and that means people will get offended. For example, the 2004 Wiess College Night of Decadence theme “NOD Bless America” bothered me, but I do not feel I have the authority to tell the NOD planning committee that they must exclude all religious references when coming up with a theme.

The use of a pop culture phrase in a religious context does not weaken the image of the Christian church. Some people expect Christians to live up to this “holier than thou” ideal. We have fun, too. Many of the youth church retreats I have gone to use themes that relate to pop culture because the youth can relate to them. It makes the image of the Christian church stronger because it shows that as society changes with time, the same convictions of the Bible are still pertinent in our lives today.

Dara Ufot Lovett junior

Columnist mistaken on Jesus’ thoughts

To the editor:

Please correct Julia Bursten’s column, which implies that Jesus had in mind anyone in particular as he walked through Jerusalem carrying the cross. It was the early church — not Jesus

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