How refreshing it was to open the Daily Monday morning and once again be treated to an article quoting more ignorance from the head of our religious studies program, Dr. Hector Avalos.

Lori Adams and Crystal Becker stated in the article that all they wanted to do was say what they believe, not force it upon others. Avalos states, “Teachers should be working on describing, not prescribing religions and religious beliefs.”

Unless I’m mistaken, this is exactly what Ms. Adams and Ms. Becker want to do with their club, describe their beliefs.

Eric Christensen, Atheist and Agnostic Society secretary, is even more ridiculous with his reasons for being opposed to the Christian Education Network. I couldn’t believe some of the things he said in the article.

The thing that really struck me was when he said, “Personally, it makes me fear putting children through school if they do get anywhere with this line of thought.”

Try as I might, I can’t find anything to be very frightened about if this club is successful with its members telling their students that they are Christians and living a morally sound life as an example.

Gasp! Could your child’s teacher be setting an example by being honest, not stealing or cheating, not promoting violence, and being faithful to his/her wife/husband?

This group could really unravel our universe if it was allowed to demonstrate these qualities in the classroom!

The real joke was that once again we were reminded the head of our religion department is an atheist.

How could we have somebody who doesn’t actually believe in any major religion running our religion program?

Religion is defined as the belief in a supernatural power regarded as creator and governor of the universe.

Atheists, however, believe that there is no god that created and governs the universe.

To put this in perspective, I imagined myself, a long time Iowa Hawkeye hater, as the U of I athletic director.

If I were running a program I didn’t believe in or want to see succeed and branch out, I would probably bring the program to its knees, and therefore would not be a very solid choice to run the program.

Such is the case with our religious studies program, where religion hater Avalos is allowed to be the final word with the department.

I am a Christian and would much rather see a Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu in charge of our department than a man who doesn’t believe in anything but trying to disprove the beliefs of the institutions that pay his salary.

Jerry Hales

Senior

Elementary Education