By Melanie J. Knox, Opinion Editor
Campus Life and the Students’ Association will be co-sponsoring a forum on war in Hart Auditorium Monday at 7 p.m. The forum will be called, “War: Things to consider.”
Brad Carter, director of Chapel programs, said it is important for students to hear a Christian view of war from professors who have studied it extensively.
On the panel will be Fred Aquino, professor of theology and ethics; Paul Morris, professor of theoretical physics and philosophy; David Dillman, professor of political science; and Lynette Sharp Penya, professor of communication.
Students will have the opportunity to hear from them in discussion and conversation, along with a question and answer period.
Carter began planning the forum last week.
“Personally I began to notice a lack of intelligent discussion on campus about war, and that really bothered me,” Carter said.
He sat down with Bob Strader and Wayne Barnard to plan something to raise awareness and discussion about the war, and on Barnard’s request, SA agreed to be involved as well.
“A lot of students are talking about the war, and we have devout Christians saying we should go to war and devout Christians saying we shouldn’t,” said Jeremy Smith, SA president. “This is a chance for them all to get together and talk about it and definitely pray about it.”
SA’s main role in the forum will be providing the manpower to advertise, as in putting up fliers on campus.
“We hope to work as the mediator, getting concerned students to interact with faculty who have experience in wars,” Smith said. “It’s a time for people to get their questions answered and get some other perspectives.”
For more information on the forum, students can access the link on the campus life Web site at www.acu.edu/campuslife. The war Web site has links to articles and video clips that Carter said would be useful in promoting discussion. These links range from articles in Christianity Today, the Christian History Newsletter, a letter from Christian leaders to President Bush, and a transcript of the discussion between Max Lucado, Bob Jones II, Michael Manning and John McArthur on the Mar. 11 edition of CNN’s Larry King Live.
