For the week of September 3, 2003
Louisiana College honor
In the latest issue of U.S. News and World Reports Americas
Best Colleges, Louisiana College is ranked in the top tier in the Southern Region
of the Best Comprehensive Colleges – Bachelors listing. “We
are obviously very pleased with this ranking,” school President Rory Lee
said. “This is a public measure of what we already know at Louisiana College,
that the education we provide our students is top notch.” Schools listed
in this category focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree
programs. There are 324 comprehensive colleges, ranked within four United States
regions. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into categories
based on mission (research university or liberal arts college) and by location.
Data is gathered from each school in 15 areas related to academic excellence.
Colleges also are ranked against their peers. “That we are one of only
two colleges in the state to be ranked on this prestigious list is a testament
to the faculty and students of Louisiana College,” Lee said. “This
is quite an honor. The college community and our supporters and alumni should
be very proud.”
Ten Commandments
Christians on both sides of the recent Ten Commandments monument
saga should unite in defending religious liberty, Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary President Al Mohler said. Mohler said he believes the monument in Montgomery,
Ala., was constitutional. However, he also said he thinks Alabama Chief Justice
Roy Moore should have followed the court order and removed it, pending an appeal.
Evangelical leaders have come down on different sides of that issue, with some
supporting Moore in his stand and some saying he acted wrongly. “(Christians)
of deep conviction must learn that we will at times disagree over tactics while
standing united in a strategy to defend religious liberty and Christian witness,”
Mohler said even as the monument was being removed last week. “This is
not a time for division, but for unity.” Christians must support and defend
the right of any state to erect a monument featuring the Ten Commandments, but
they should work through the democratic process and pick their battles wisely,
Mohler said. “Christians cannot turn to the courts when we want rescue
and then disobey the same courts when we lose. The federal courts have twisted
the Constitution to push a radical social and moral revolution. … But we cannot
simultaneously deny the courts authority and seek to correct their direction.”
Historic exhibit
An exhibit of Dead Sea scrolls fragments is scheduled to open
early this month in the Dallas Biblical Arts Center and run through Nov. 16.
“The exhibition is about the entire history of Scripture and how we got
our Bible in America,” an exhibit spokesperson said. That history begins
with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exhibit will feature fragments from the ancient
texts of Genesis and Isaiah discovered near Qumran, as well as fragments from
Leviticus and Exodus from a third-century copy of the Old Testament in Greek.
Other highlights will include fragments from the earliest surviving papyrus
manuscripts of the Gospel of John and the Apostle Pauls letter to the
Colossians. Bibles and fragments from the Latin manuscript tradition dated to
the fourth century also will be included among the ancient treasures in the
exhibit. The exhibit includes a Bible in English from 1410, along with Erasmus
Greek and Latin text from 1522, which became the basis for Bible translations
in the language of common people throughout the Reformation. The exhibit includes
a copy of the Geneva Bible and a first edition of the King James Version of
1611.
Presidential appointment
President George Bush has announced he will reappoint Southern
Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land to a
one-year term to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Land
is the only Bush appointee returning to the commission. The commission was established
in 1998. It researches religious liberty issues in foreign countries and makes
recommendations to the White House and Congress. It consists of six appointees
by congressional leaders and three by the president. Land said it was an honor
and a privilege to be appointed by Bush in 2001, but his reappointment is an
even greater honor.
Ethics and morality
More than three-quarters of Americans have a pessimistic view
of the current state of ethics and morality – and even fewer see it getting
better, a Gallup Poll indicates. Seventy-seven percent of Americans rated current
ethics and morality as “fair” or “poor,” while 22 percent
rated them “good” or “excellent.” Women, older people and
churchgoers were the most critical of the countrys ethical climate. “Ethics
and morality” usually ranks high on the list of American concerns. This
year, the category was tied statistically with terrorism, education, health
care, fear of war and dissatisfaction with the government. Two-thirds of Americans
said the moral and ethical climate is getting worse, and 24 percent said it
is getting better. Only 13 percent said the country both was doing well and
getting better. The poll of 1,005 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus
3 percentage points.
True Love Waits
True Love Waits is going to the 2004 Summer Olympics. Next year, when the world
turns its attention to Athens, Greece, True Love Waits pledges to sexual abstinence
until marriage will be a part of the celebration. Hundreds of thousands of signed
promises of sexual purity from Christian youth in at least 100 countries will
be displayed and celebrated in Athens on Aug. 22, 2004, during the XXVIII Olympiad.
“This (display) will amplify the voices of the Christian students who are
standing for purity,” a True Love Waits spokesperson said. The campaign
is sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Pledge cards with an Athens/Olympic theme will be available for purchase, as
will a True Love Waits Summer Olympics 2004 pin, beginning this summer. Details
about the Athens display and celebration will be posted on www.truelovewaits.com.
User friendly?
Fifty-eight percent of Americans are online at work or home
– but what about the other 42 percent who have no Internet access? A recent
survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 52 percent of those
were not online because they did not want the Internet or did not need it. Also,
43 percent said they were worried about online pornography, credit card theft
and fraud. Thirty percent said the Internet was too expensive, while 29 percent
said they simply did not have time for it. Twenty-seven percent said the Internet
is too complicated. Eleven percent said they do not have a computer. Of the
non-Internet users, more than one-fourth (28 percent) are 65 or older.