No forced participation

I found Daniela Block’s column on a “religious exemptions” clause confusing (“Religion, chill out,” May 22). She compares refusing to assist at or perform a homosexual service to refusing to serve a black person, or hire a woman. In doing so she forgets that serving someone at a restaurant and assisting in a religious ceremony are two different things.

Religious ceremonies are religious for a reason – because there is some belief system implicit in the ceremony. Such ceremonies have always been subject to restrictions. For example, often Jewish weddings cannot be held on Shabbat, and non-Latter-Day Saints are not allowed to enter the temple where weddings for members are held (by default, this bars the temple from performing services for non-members). Furthermore, some religious practices actually do gender discriminate; traditionally, women do not serve as Catholic priests or Muslim imams. And in most religions there are many more guidelines for the proper execution of ceremonies.

It may make no sense to Bloch why these restrictions are in place. To me it often doesn’t – after all, to an outsider Shabbat may be just another day, the temple a regular building, and a priest a man with an tremendous love for black clothes. However, I respect that there are some religious reasons behind certain guidelines, which cannot be condescendingly reduced to a fear of “threatening evolution,” or a “discomfort with a visual image.”

Bloch is free to believe the religious are “acting like mean girls” by their limitations on certain ceremonies, but she is not the one responsible for telling congregations what the specifics of their ceremonies should be. And thanks to separation of church and state, neither is the federal government. It may be within its power to sanction a purely civil ceremony, but it is not the government’s place to set the guidelines for religious rituals. It fact, it seems absurd for the government to force a religious group to perform a ceremony for someone, and it certainly does not constitute a “citizen’s right” to demand such – I could not march up to a LDS temple and order them to perform my wedding, nor could I insist on a sacrament such as Communion in a church.

Religious rites are under the discretion of the specific religion to grant or withhold. Bloch may think Gov. Lynch is confused when it comes to application of the first amendment, but in my opinion, she is.

– MAGGIE HUFF

Weinberg freshman

College is time for fun

To my friend Michael Lee, composer of Thursday’s letter to the editor, entitled “Allison Antics Uncool,” I have one thing to say to you; you are so very correct. You are, indeed, at the wrong school. In fact, you don’t belong at any school. Rather, you belong in an old folks home. I believe there are two of them in Evanston; one on Foster, and another down Chicago, right next to Tapas Barcelona.

Having been here for five years (by the way, I am sorry if you are ashamed to be associated with a guy who is too stupid to get his degree in 4 years. Wow, maybe NU isn’t all that great…) I can safely say that this idea of “prestige” you talk about is absolute bull.

Whether you go to an “unheard-of-party-loving state school” or to MIT (is that prestigious enough of a school for you?), the fact remains, college is composed of 18-22 year olds whose primary goal in life is, for the most part, to have a good time. Maybe you’re too young to remember, but MIT students were the ones who dismantled a police car and then put it on top of their famous dome. Also, do you want to know what police officers think? They think that we’re spoiled rich kids who are coasting through life. It doesn’t matter if we decide to cruise around rooftops by night; their opinion of us is already pretty low.

Here is what I take pride in. Northwestern students raise hundreds of thousands of dollars at Dance Marathon every year. We have one of the best college radio stations in the country, and an excellent newspaper. We have a sense of humanity as shown by the number of us who participate in ASB, NCDC, Habitat for Humanity, and a variety of other community development organizations. Do you really think I care about a gaggle of students who roam roofs? My friend, if that is your issue with this school, then perhaps you have never left your dorm.

By the way, May 30 marks an an annual tradition known as Dillo Day here at NU. If you see an Indian guy with a beard having a “good time,” please don’t judge him.

-ANOOP JAIN

McCormick senior