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Page Sixty-six
THE MAROON TIGER
Special
The College Man’s Religion
J. Hervey Wheeler, ’29
While the world today is wondering what is
the matter with college education, and while
many are branding American colleges as harm
ful influences on our youth and breeding places
for immorality, atheism and unrest, the mass
of American college students is often forced to
stop and wonder in return: “What sort of world
is this after all?” College men are sometimes
amused—sometimes excited by the criticisms
hurled at them by men on the outside. Yet,
as we see it, college life is a world not essen
tially different from the whole organization of
humanity around us. In fact, it is truly a vital
and closely connected part of modern civilization.
Probably the foremost and most popular ob
jection to the present system of college educa
tion is that students are interested very little
in our religion, neither do they have very much
of it, if any sense of their obligations or re
sponsibility to a Supreme Being. This objection
is riot without its foundations. However, it is
decidedly unfair to apply it to all, or even to the
majority of students in American colleges. The
truth of the situation is that there is such a com
plexity in modern civic life that a demand for a
new and more practical code of behavior and
ideals has arisen—a demand which calls for a
view of religion as a manual for the conducting
of human relationships, yet for a religion not es
sentially different from that of our forefathers.
More and more college men must concern them
selves with this aspect of religion. They cannot
expect to meet successfully, the stringent de
mands of the dizzy pace of modern life unless
they have as the basis of their conduct, an or
ganized, simple and practical religion—a religion
which is applicable to every day problems and
occurrences. To the vast majority of students,
Christianity is the most universal and far-reach
ing of all religions. It embodies those principles
which are capable of successfully meeting current
problems. But there is a difference in method
and effectiveness of its application to problems of
yesterday and today. That is, that the middle
age’s interpretation of Christianity is not ade
quate to fit conditions of the modern age. The
twentieth century requires a new interpretation
—not a changing of the basic elements of the re
ligion, but a new interpretation in the light of
existing conditions, which are certainly new and
different in their nature from those of preceding
centuries.
This is the sort of thing college men are striv
ing for—a more sincere, more practical religion.
They are not tinged with the emotional fire of pre
ceding generations, but they recognize the fact
that they must face their religion as a serious
business proposition. In truth, America through
its college youth is about to attain a new and
greater Christianity — a refined Christianity
founded upon the principles of brotherly love.
Articles
Yea, the new Christianity has emerged from its
old shell of decaying superstition and sectarian
animosity. It stands high in its massive strength
and sheds its light of purity on the heads of the
thousands of thinking students in our colleges
and universities who in turn look to it as the
guiding force of their lives.
The Right Of The Minority In
A Democratic Government
Roland Smith, ’29
The Government of the United States was
founded upon the principles and basis of democ
racy. It was the spirit of democracy which was
aflame in the soul of the Fathers of this Nation,
that made it possible for them to give to the
world, a form of government, which approached
the ideal form more than any of the existing gov
ernments at that particular time.
The Fathers of our government were careful
in drawing up a constitution to see to it that
none of the branches of the government over
lapped each other. Thus, in presenting the con
stitution, this great assembly of trained minds,
gave to us a government composed of three
branches: the Executive, the Judicial, and the
Legislative. Each of the departments was to func
tion in its particular sphere. In this system of
government, the best we have in the world today,
a provision was made for the Supreme Court of
the United States.
The Supreme Court is composed of a group of
learned and dignified men. It is the great tem
ple of Justice, and stands out as the protector
of the rights of the citizens from encroachment
by the Executive and Legislative branches. The
Supreme Court is the great check upon the gov
ernment for the people of the United States. It
is through this Court that the minority in the
government must look for protection and securi
ty. It is the Supreme Court, which in keeping
with the customs, traditions, laws and senti
ments of the country declares any law void or
unconstitutional, which does not represent the
noble spirit of the Constitution.
Thus, we can see that the founders of this
great commonwealth were far-sighted when they
made a provision for the minority in the govern
ment. For, the majority in the government can
be very execrable and despotic when there is no
force or power with which, it knows it can be
checked. When the minority has not rights to
be respected in the government, they are less
than citizens, and are no more than subjects.
Subjects to be treated unjustly by the govern
ment in power.
There is, in this country at this particular time,
a group (Negro group) which is having every
vestige of its rights taken from it in the Southern
States of the United States. The South has done
this, the practical disfranchisement of the Negro,