Letters on WSU chapel, County Commission, Eagle, lobbying

How do we hope to be treated?

After reading of the events surrounding a remodeling of Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel on the campus of my alma mater, Wichita State University, I was nothing short of disappointed (Oct. 7 Eagle). It wasn’t for the reasons that many might anticipate from an evangelical Christian after hearing that the space was remodeled to accommodate Muslim students. Rather, it was a feeling of disappointment in the reported words of my professed brothers and sisters.

My purpose in writing is not to wag a proverbial finger at the conservative church, but instead to ask a question for reflection. If and when we find ourselves among the faith minority, how do we hope to be treated? How do we hope that people will speak of us?

It is my hope that reflection will lead us to the words of Christ as reported by St. Luke: “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”

Restore chapel

I feel compelled to give my 2 cents on the Grace Chapel issue at Wichita State University (Oct. 7 Eagle).

I don’t think the current students on campus should be consulted about its use. Let’s face it – the kids that age are still pretty ignorant. I don’t mean to be harsh, but reflecting back on how I was at that age, I now know I hadn’t lived long enough nor had enough life experiences to make as wise a decision regarding that building and its space as I feel I can now at nearly 60 years of age.

Having said that, I feel the building should be a Christian nondenominational facility, pews and all. I am tired of Christians having to apologize for their religion in this country. I firmly believe that when our forefathers drafted the Constitution in the 18th century and included freedom of religion as a right, they did not conceive of Buddhists, Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and others worshipping in our great country.

But because we do have freedom of all religions and it is now the 21st century and we have international students who need a place to worship, I can’t fathom that there is not a room in the Rhatigan Student Center that they could use and that could suit their purposes even better than the Grace Chapel building.

Please restore the Grace Chapel to its original beauty and find another more suitable space for our Muslim students to worship.

It’s about grace

As a Christian minister since the ’70s, I have had lots of opportunity to immerse myself in the Christian Scriptures, what is often referred to as the New Testament. I can’t find anything in there about the importance of pews or even buildings for Christian worship, for that matter. Christians mostly met in homes, by the river or wherever they could gather. They were known for their love. As one song puts it, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

The animosity and vitriolic comments in regard to making Grace Chapel at Wichita State University more inclusive and welcoming for all students is not in keeping with the life and teachings of Jesus and the Christian Scriptures. I would encourage people to actually study what Christian Scriptures say about love for one another.

Our faith is based on the love of God and our neighbor; it is about grace, not hate and division. Hate has a different source and has nothing to do with Jesus.

Shameful action

Sedgwick County Commissioners Richard Ranzau, Karl Peterjohn and Jim Howell have brought the war against women and children to Sedgwick County (“County reduces WIC nutrition funding,” Oct. 8 Eagle). This action is so wrong and shameful on so many levels.

Ranzau is asking the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to prohibit illegal immigrants from participating in the program. We’re talking nutritional foods and supplements such as milk and cheese.

I’d ask the commissioners to look into the eyes of the women, infants and children and tell them to their faces they cannot have milk. If we can push them into a corner as other and call them “illegals,” then we don’t have to see them as human beings.

Taking essential foods out of the mouths of babies is not an immigration issue. It is a social-justice and human issue. And it is very much a public health issue.

The article noted that challenging eligibility requirements for WIC funds would need state and federal approval. Given that the state’s governor and legislators have already discounted and threatened the neediest and most vulnerable of our population, there is little doubt they’d jump on this bandwagon.

The federal government could impose penalties for this action. I pray it does. Call me a bleeding-heart liberal, but I’d rather be that than someone with no heart at all.

Infantile board

When a County Commission acts as its own Board of Health, you get results like those coming from the Sedgwick County Commission meeting last week (“County reduces WIC nutrition funding,” Oct. 8 Eagle). A majority of the county commissioners would like to keep illegal immigrants, or their children, from receiving health and nutrition benefits through the Women, Infants and Children program.

When the Board of Health consisted of professional doctors, dentists and nurses instead of politicians, that recommendation would never have occurred. Since when do we punish innocent children, many of whom were probably born in this country, because of their parents’ immigration status? It’s obvious who in the commission room are behaving like infants and children.

Eagle is crucial

An Eagle article describing the local ecosystem for entrepreneurship was very pertinent and thought provoking (“Is one of city’s best-known traits now old history?” Sept. 27 Eagle). To keep our community growing and prospering, we have to keep the tradition of entrepreneurship burning. That will require the participation not only of the city government, businesses and citizens but also the media, which I would like to highlight.

In 1984, when I was mayor of this wonderful city, an immigrant from India, Balbir Mathur, started a movement called Trees for Life to help people in developing countries plant fruit trees. Because of Eagle reporting on this important work several years later, not only did Trees for Life become well-known throughout Wichita, it became a worldwide movement that inspired people to plant more than 200 million trees around the world.

People at Trees for Life also created an educational program called Teach for Life, which allows highly skilled teachers to share their expertise with others around the world. The educators of Wichita are coalescing in a movement to help revolutionize education for the children in many nations.

All this might never have happened, or at least not so swiftly or on such a scale, without The Eagle’s participation. I compliment The Eagle for the support it has given to our city’s entrepreneurs, whether for profit or for social benefit, and I hope it will continue to do so. The role The Eagle plays is crucial.

Proof in pudding

Davis Merritt’s Oct. 6 column, “Avoid ethical pitfall by paying for own meals,” was excellent. He listed all the reasons, which should be obvious, as to why our Kansas legislators should turn down gifts in the form of drinks and meals from lobbyists.

I think Merritt’s most persuasive argument, which even an 8-year-old could understand, was this one: “Businesses and business-interest groups pay the lobbyists’ salaries and expenses. Those employers aren’t known for frivolous spending, and because they continue to use lobbyists, they obviously are persuaded they get a return.”

As the old proverb goes, “The proof is in the pudding.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on WSU chapel, County Commission, Eagle, lobbying."