No pressure to convert The past few days, the Campus Forum has seen a lot of controversy over the Easter ad purchased by a group of Christian professors that was printed in last week’s Technician . People on various places of the spectrum have responded to this ad, as well as other students’ opinions of the ad. As a Christian, I would like to say that I am sorry. I am sorry that any Christian would ever condemn you, because that is not what we are called to do. God’s word says as Christians that we are Christ’s ambassadors. So, I am sorry that I, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, ever present anything less to you. The fact is, we are all (including Christians) sinful humans who constantly fall short of God’s perfect standard, which is why Christ was sent as the perfect example and the Savior — to be slaughtered in our place so that we could still have fellowship with ourblameless creator. That is what my heart is daily broken for you to know, and that is what the professors who purchased the Easter ad last week desperately want you to know. We never want you to feel pressured to “convert”; on the contrary, I pray that Christ will open your heart to his love and change your life the way that he has changed mine.

Cristina Wase SophomoreBachelor Of Social Work

Just an offer It is mystifying and a little sad that some students and teachers are so offended at the mere offer of Jesus as savior by some of our professors. What’s even more strange is that they think that somehow this negates the promotion of diversity on our campus. Just the opposite is true. Diversity means allowing all people of all faiths to practice, discuss and even promote their beliefs, in public. If we were prevented from doing so in public, it would be enforcing an appearance of no religion on all the students and teachers – which is the opposite of diversity and very intolerant.The Technician promoted diversity last week by allowing some professors to tell the N.C. State community about Jesus, who came ” that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly, ” (John 10:10) and they invited interested students to talk to them about it. This creates the perfect opportunity for a diverse campus to debate and discuss whether or not Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) as he claimed.No attempt was made to force students to convert or threaten non-Christians in the professors’ classes with lower grades. Jesus was simply offered; take it, discuss it or leave it. That’s not intolerance. Any group of professors or students from any other faith should feel free to contact the Technician and run a similar ad promoting their beliefs.

Michele StromJuniorCSC

No one deserves such judgement I agree with Bryan Burroughs in that we should not pass judgment onothers, especially before the courts have even passed judgment on them.It’s a shame that our society is so fueled by entertainment that we wouldrather publicize and gossip about every piece of dirt we hear on peoplethan wait to find out if it’s even true. I would hate to be the victim ofthat kind of embarrassment.I feel bad for everyone who has had their face put in the paper forsomething negative, especially if it’s not true. No one deserves that. Notthe two students who were accused of shooting at a car on Pullen (andalmost every other recent crime the University needed a scapegoat for) andnot the group of students and so called “crime ring”, whom many wereeither not connected with each other, were accused of common crimes suchas stealing books, were only “still at large” for questioning (not arrest)or were completely innocent all together. Even the guy who expressedhimself with fire in the Free Expression Tunnel doesn’t deserve it (thoughby the grin on his face in his picture, it looked like he may have wantedthe attention).And to Praveen Sriram, no one deserves to have their lives condemnedbecause of mistakes they made in their lives. And if they do, that’s forthe courts to decide. Not you, or any other student at this school forthat matter. Really only God (or whoever is your higher power) has theright to pass judgment on a person’s life.We are an educated community but just because we know a lot, doesn’t mean we know everything. “The man who knows something, knows that he doesn’t really know anything at all.”

Julie PittsFreshmenIndustrial Design

Filtering out crime There were comments made a few weeks ago by Adam Hawdon regarding the accused (not yet found guilty) students whose mug shots were lined up on the front page of the Technician saying that “I am disappointed that our admissions department would allow seven students into this school that would do crimes like these. I think it’s time we admit students solely on academic means, not race, sex or nationality.” Now this is also after Adam claimed to not be a racist…yet I’m trying to figure out how a person who does not judge people according to race found a link between admitting people on race, sex or nationality had anything to do with the particular students whom were accused of crimes…? Was he trying to say that people of color shouldn’t be allowed to attend the University because he doesn’t want crime on his campus? My hopes are that this is not the way a campus dedicated to diversity thinks about its minority groups…

And I hate to break it to you, Adam, but even if we only let the people whoperformed the highest on standardized tests into the school, that…well, testing people commit crimes, too. There are a lot of different types of intelligence, the ones who commit crimes within their communities may lack an intelligence to understand consequences, but they weren’t dumb. There is no way for the University to filter people like that out on an application. Filtering based on color alone definitely won’t get that done.

Julie PittsFreshmanIndustrial Design

Respect the press This is in response to Meghan Woodall’s diatribe on the media inTuesday’s paper: It is unfortunate that Ms. Woodall fails to recognize the benefits of afree press. Surely, media organizations are not perfect in limiting biasand opinion from entering pieces that should not be slanted. But to say that the media should not report what you tire of hearing is absurd.I am sorry if you do not want to hear about Cindy Sheehan, HurricaneKatrina or the legal situation regarding the Duke lacrosse team. Last time I checked, Cindy Sheehan was one of few anti-war activists whoactually received any attention from the media, Hurricane Katrina killed1,604 people and caused around $75 billion worth of damage and a story where racial tension is at heart these many years after the end of legaldiscrimination are examples of news that does not interest you. Themedia may be quick to draw conclusions, but be aware that church fires in the South have been occurring for racially motivated reasons fordecades.You call for what amounts to a press that does not serve the publicinterest. Yes, some of the public interest is of little value-at the end of the day, companies need to make money. But the press has to serve agreater good. The response to Hurricane Katrina was a failure at alllevels of government and should be investigated. If it was not for themedia, would the government be willing to investigate itself? The mediahas ultimate responsibility to its readers. People vote with theirwallets a lot more often then they do for governments.Do you really think that the Secret Service is going to explain its whole procedure for protecting government officials in the case ofnational emergency? Surely not! If Oprah says there are about 200terrorists that live in the United States, do you think the source forthat information just picked a random number that sounded “about right”? Definitely not! Just because media outlets know some information doesnot mean they know everything.Furthermore, you mention that racial profiling would be a good way to reduceterrorism. Racial profiling would not have stopped Richard Reid (of English and Jamaican descent) or Zacarias Moussaoui (born in France andof Moroccan descent).Sure, media organizations have some problems, but next time you takeissue with how they operate please find better examples to support your problems with institutions that are at the forefront of protectingfreedoms that you take for granted.

William FlanneryJuniorPolitical Science