Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Causes and effects of global climate change

There has been a change in this weeks meeting format. Bro. Holyoak will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. instead of 7:00. We will be meeting in the TAYLOR BUILDING room 130, rather than the MC.

This will be a great presentation. Please invite as many of your friends as possible!

Friday, February 23, 2007

Apology

Disregard my last post. I had googled this site to get to it, and for some reason it kicked up an old page with a bunch of peoples comments from last year. This is why I have Scott and Blake around, so that I don't make a fool of myself. The comments are fine; keep posting.

Again, check out the Darfur link.

The Intent of this Blog

About once a week, I try to log on to this site to see what individuals have been posting. Today, I saw what seemed to be a conversation in a chat room between a few fourth graders. Let me remind the few who sign in here that every effort is being made to increase our public image this semester. I and the rest of the BYU-I College Dems presidency are working overtime to try and get quality speakers, organized meetings, and good PR so that as the semesters roll on we will further the work of our group. If you don't have something to contribute to this effort, then, please, don't add impertinent, or, worse, regressive, commentary to this site. We are an organization for college students interested in intelligent politically debate. Let's act that way.

Now, to other things. I encourage everyone to go to the link above and check out what it has to say. We may be dedicating a meeting to this subject.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Soul[farce]?

I received an email the other day from BYU-Idaho which stated that a Gay and Lesbian political organization would be staging an event at the university.

This is just silly.

The group's name is Soulforce and they made a similar visit to BYU in Provo last year. Suffice it to say, the news media reported that it was they, Soulforce, who caused a disturbance, NOT BYU. The following statement is from a recent edition of the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's "liberal" newspaper:

Soulforce Equality Riders were allowed on BYU's campus last year to speak with students individually, but administrators warned they would be escorted away if they attempted to assemble and use the campus as a public forum.

Several Equality Riders let administrators know they intended to break school policies and subsequently were arrested for civil disobedience.

BYU administrators said Monday they will not allow a repeat performance.
I think it's incredibly disrespectful for them to set aside BYU's courtesy in allowing them to come onto campus. I think that their attempt at "civil disobedience" probably lost them ground instead of moving them forward. What are they trying to do?

As far as I know, neither BYU nor BYU-I holds anti-gay rallies. They don't teach hate or discrimination.

While I have some respect for the gay movement, the respect comes from the American mantra that people should be allowed to live their lives according to their own desires without fear of retribution. If the gay movement is asking for tolerance, why then, are they intolerant of religion? Soulforce's mission, according to their website, is:

[T]o open a dialogue about the painful consequences of discrimination and the religion-based prejudice that sustains it.
To me, this basically says, "To force a dialogue, by flouting rules and showing no respect, about how religionists are bigots." How can the gay and lesbian community ask for tolerance, while at the same time showing no respect for the way the way in which the religious community wishes to live? Plus, as a liberal Mormon, I'm offended at being called a bigot.

I'm a convert, and at no point has anyone asked me to be homophobic, bigoted, or discriminatory. In fact, I've been taught the opposite: I've been taught to love, to feel compassion for, and to treat all people the way I want to be treated. So, if this ethic is inherent in the Church, why is Soulforce coming? They are coming because we teach that homosexuality is a violation of God's plan for His children. We teach religious doctrine, not political activism. We teach people, that, if they believe the principles of our Church are true, then they have the choice to follow those principles — one of which is to live a heterosexual lifestyle.

I've been attending BYU-I for a while now, and it has been my experience that the vast majority of religion professors teach religious principles, not discrimination, hate or bigotry. Any experiences contrary are surely to be rare and in the minority.

Let me conclude this tirade: I'm not asking Soulforce to tolerate inequality, discrimination or hate. But, I do ask Soulforce to allow me to live my religion. Just as homosexuals feel that their sexual orientation is not something they practice — it is something inherent within them; my faith is who I am.

I won't trade my faith for their sexuality. I will gays and lesbians just as I treat hetero's, with a little 'bit of sarcasm and spite.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Slight Schedule Change

On Wednesday the 21st, we will be meeting in MC 375 instead of MC 320. We apologize for any inconvenience, but due to some scheduling issues and the extra time needed to show the film, our hands are tied in the matter. After the 21st we will be back to our normal meeting location in MC320.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Upcoming Meetings

Okay, I have some great news for the next couple of weeks. First of all, there is no meeting this coming Wed. (14th). That's not the good news. The good news is on Feb. 21st we'll be watching "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary and on Feb. 28th Bro. Alan Holyoak will be coming to present "Current Effects of Global Warming." Bro. Holyoak is a member of the biology department and was the director for environmental studies at Manchester College for 10 years. Then, on March 7th, Bro. Stuart from the English department will present the topic of "Trends in Europe," a discussion about the direction in which Eurpoean politics is going. And on March 14th, Bro. Gerald Hanson from the PoliSci and Religion departments will host a discussion entitled "Geopolitics and Iran." So, mark your calendars, invite your friends, and we'll see you all at the College Dems!