It takes a huge person to be a Christian these days, and that’s a shame.

Not only do we have an atheist teaching a class on the Bible, but we also have an organization that supports atheists and agnostics.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t write to the Daily, but not only am I compelled by my God to write in defense of Christianity, but as an American who supports freedom.

There has been a decline in moral and ethical judgments in America. We only need to look at the covers of magazines, newspapers and the nightly news.

Crime and poverty have not only forced adults into moral decline, but our younger population as well. Where did we go wrong?

The answer is that American society has abandoned its church and the basic teachings of Christianity. There may be some that say we don’t need the church for guidance and morality.

Not all people need the church to prevent them from murdering or slandering each other. Righteousness from the church is not something that everyone needs to be a “great guy.” But it would be wrong for us to assume there aren’t some who need the church to consistently say it is OK to love those who need it and that murder is wrong. Everyone is different and just because you choose not to prescribe to any form of religious organization does not give you the right to abolish or dismiss the pedagogy that helps your neighbor.

This brings me to Dr. Avalos teaching a class on the history of the Bible.

I have no problem with anyone teaching any class at all. I do have a problem with a professor teaching a class on the Bible and interjecting his opinions along with the instruction.

Now, he may form a smokescreen and play semantics with his classroom by beginning his statements with, “This is what scholars suggest …”

Wake up, Dr. Avalos. We are not dumb students by any means. We can clearly see through the smokescreen you have so poorly constructed.

Your consistent attempt to find contradictions in the Bible while generalizing Christians is not only a poor attempt to promote atheism, but it tears down the average student. Do you realize that some students, including myself, mistakenly took the class to enhance our knowledge of the Bible in a literal sense?

Yet because of your practice of taking a podium in Ross Hall and turning it into your own soapbox, some Christian students have not only had a frustrating time attending class and listening to your constant barrage of shots, but some even drop the class. Is this practice to make students feel unwelcome or just stupid?

Through the promotion of atheism, we have yet another entity on campus that makes it hard to be a Christian here.

We now have the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. Once again, being an American, I welcome almost any organization into our society that will promote the ideology of freedom.

Yet I continue to question the motives of this organization. I have been told that it will not be a “theist-bashing society,” and I applaud that, but I still fail to see its relevance in today’s society. I haven’t heard of any Christians, Jews or Taoists killing non-believers in today’s society.

On the other hand, I have heard about the legalization of abortion, abandonment of prayer in public schools and the need to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance. So, I respectfully toss this question out for anyone to answer: Why do we need such a society of men and women in such a secular population?

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Albert Farr

Senior

English