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PACE * THE MERCER CLUSTER
Katallagete
An Open Letter To A.F.P.’ers By Karen Murphey
Will Campbell and I were in- for the world's problems as well Christians can relate: coming to
troduced over a cup of coffee in as our own. Just “being,' seemed terms with onts own history
the midst of a heated discussion like a cop-out and an excuse for U the goal of AFP were to be
this past summer lazyness. With the help of Will stated in a nutshell.I believe that
"The trouble with you Jesus Campbell’s book, and some nitty his process of MU-
Freaks " I yelled at i friend who gritty bulUessions with friends, I actualization' would be its
bad just returned from Explo'72. discovered that accepting theme. Discovering ‘who am
“is that you're so caught up in yourself is the most difficult thing is a painful, slow, radical, and
your own personal'salvation trip' a person can do. For a person transforming precess. Some of us
that you ignore the ugly and who had put their hope in the started, (as others invariably
grotesque reality of the ivorld political redemption of Civil will), at the other end. In our
around you Unless Christ can be Rights and Anti-war movement, desparate attempt to tod
found in the garbage heaps of the accepting that which had already meaning we plunge oursel ves
ghettos and the mutilated been done-the reconciliation of head first into the chaos of life-
NOVEMBER 1, 1*72
Christ--seemed far too only to wind up even more unsure
unrealistic. And yet, it is only of our own identity . In our search
through the redemption of Christ we discover too many alter-
that Messiah can be found, natives, to quote Dr. Otto), and
Politics will never redeem our our minds are blown: some
country from the attrecities of momentarily and some, un-
Vietnam and the ghetto...only fortunately, permanently.
children of Vietnam, I don't want
to be saved.
Your interpretation of
Christian witness presupposes
'hat They’ are in need of saving;
when in reality, it is u» the
Christiana-who in the name of
Christ perpetuate segregated
churches, segreagted neigh
borhoods, and segregated
salvatiqn-who are in need of
redemption.
You really think you are going
to Save the world by calling up
every person in the Dallas
telephone directory to give them
the ‘message of salvation?" If
you really want a 'message of
salvation’ why don't you try the
freedom rides of Martin Luther
King. Or the Berrigan brothers at
Nunn’s Southern Strategy
Christ can do that
To the AFP’er of this year I ask
that you take seriously Camp
bell’s message of "coming to
terms with your own history.”
You might disagree with his
semantics, or you might disagree
with his Christian theology. But
Will Campbell has said
something that transcends even
his own inadequacies as a
Christian. It is a message to
which both Christians and Non-
Where, then, can we find our
answer? We will never find it in
political protest, nor will we ever
find it in social or Christian ac
tivism. The answer that we so
desparately search for lies within
the most obvious place: our
selves. This is the message that
Will Campbell brought from one
sinner to another:
KATALLAGETE
Be peaceful.
kllB M
I people
message of salvation why don’t
you tell them about Mai com Boyd
when he was thrown in a blood
drenched paddy wagon for
praying for peace in the streets ;
while on the same day Billy
Graham stood next to the
President praying for "our boys year a lot of people
By Greg Brown
The opions exspressed in this photograph probably reflect the
sentiments for everyone.
Do We Really
Have A Choice?
By Frank Spooner
America-the land of are subject to abrupt and unan
democracy-the grand republic nounced changes.
In several newspapers around
Georgia Sam Nunn has been
trying to put out the fire that he
had large part in starting. This
e in the South
in Vietnam." are going to be voting Republican
And then a calm voice broke in and the candidate from Perry,
and said, "Karen, your theology Georgia has signs blurting out
is just as full of loopholes as the “Nixon and Nunn in 72’." The
hell bent Jesus Freak. While she element of surprise contained
is over-emphasizing the faith’ of therein is that Nunn is a member
Christiantiy, you’re overem- of the Democratic Party running
phasizing the ‘works.’ Heh, why on the Democratic Ticket. He
don’t you both read this book...Up has, in this case, left the
to Our Steeples In Poll ties, by Democratic party completely in
Will Campbell. You might both persuit of his own success,
see things differently.” "Southern chairmen head all the
With that the discussion ended ra.jo^cornmiUe^'^leU^the
and went on to other things.
But days later I was still
Romans. "These men hold these
seats of influence because of the
... .. ; .... . Democratic majority in the
Senate. Should the Democrats
one year at Mercer University
the entire world, and its horrible
problems, had opened up
lose only five
chairmanships
seats, their
would im-
have your cake and eat it loo!"
Reflecting no longer on the
spoiled child attitude of Nunn,
Sam is a Democrat and his seat in
the United States Senate is im
portant to the Chairmen of the
Senate Committees, most of them
Southerners. Hence. Senator
Herman Talmadge who stands to
lose his chairmanship of the
Agriculture and Forestry
Committee has spoken out for the
first time in many election years
and endorsed Nunn. The en
dorsement of Senator Talmadge,
who has consistently refused to
involve himself in other peoples
political races in past years, can
be used as a measuring stick
indicating how close the race is
going to be this year.
The South wields a lot of power
in Washington by having
Southern chairmen of most of the
where freedom is a by word and
having a God given right to
choose is a way of life. A lot of
good having the right to choose
does one this year, at least when
it comes to making a choice
between the candidates running
for public office in November.
One of your choices is war
mongering King Richard I, the
man who is now getting us out of
the blood stained rice field called
Vietnam. It should be pointed out
that for the first two years of his
administration he fed the fires of
It’s a real shame that George
isn’t a younger man for then he
could claim to be in the
presidential race only for the
experience to be gained. Lord
knows George has lMrro-*
aboul 4A./I. to uo while run
ning for president. First on the
list of campaign no-no’s is never
to back anyone unequivocally.
1000 percent.
State office candidates don't
offer any consolation for the
inevitable mistake that one is
doomed to make in voting for
the war as did his Predecessors president this year. Running for
with men,munitions, and money, the senate in Georgia this year is
Richards- contribution to the
cause was only 20,000 more lives
lost before he started the
necessary steps to put an end to
the bloodshed. Let us not forget
that this is a man of peace for
recently he has been lacing up the
worlds once flopping tennis shoe
Ftirml mediately go to the ranking Senate Committees including the by knotting the loose shoe strings moss covered
I ..„ 77 ri,vw Republican in each committee." Agriculture and Forest Com- of China and the Soviet Union senators in Washi
1 Say me norror Ol Uic* U. flu m -eihiliiu nt mitlpp Annrnnrintinns Armpd omimJ ..ku
say
Gregory’s Vietnam; Lt. Calley’s
My Lai; Bernadette Devlin’s
Ireland; and the poverty stricken
area of the ghetto.
Malcolm Boyd came on
campus and shocked me to my
roots. My eyes were rent open
and I discovered the un
fathomable distance, (or so I
thought), between rehetoric and
action.
My answer was to flock to
books and people who say
salvation in the making of
Radical Christiantiy. But I was
only partly right, like Will
Campbell,' had not yet "come to
terms with my history.” In the
language of the new her-
menuetics, I was equating
Politics with Messiah. In the
lingo of St. Paul, I was trying to
“work" my way into salvation.
Will Campbell’s book. Up to
Our Steeples in Politic* hit me
like a ton of bricks. In my
realization that "I” am guilty, I
also discovered that "we"-
everyone of us-is guilty too. Our
He mourns over the pi* 'sibility of
Rupublicans replacing
Democrats, particularly
Southerners, and yet he cam-
paings on the coattails of a
Republican President. It reminds
me of the proclamation of my
mother who said. "You can’t
I NOTICE !
The Cluster would like to
thank the Student body for g
the many contribututions
we have received in the
past several weeks. A
reminder however is g
needed, All Letters to the
Editors need to be typed,
and double spaced. We do
not have sufficient time to :jj
handle the typing of such ’ ; :j
contributions. If you do not £
have access to a
typewriter, come use ours. $
mittee, Appropriations, Armed
Services, Banking, Housing &
Urban Affairs, Finance,
Judiciary and Government
Operations. The Judiciary
Committee has just recently beer,
involved in the ITT Scandal,
the peanut farmer, prosecutor
from Perry, Ga., Sam Nunn who
invisions himself as a moderate
riencamation of the late and
"great” Senator Richard B
Russell. There is no riencarnate
of Sen. Russell, thank God. We
presently have ample numbers of
do-nothing
Washington without
around the economic ankle of the adding the-young do-nothing
United States. This man who Nunn to the long list of senatorial
could well receive the Novel dead wood.
Prize for Peace, were it not for
the atrocity of Vietnam, is the
same human being who utilized
hundreds of thousands of U.S.
Nunn’s opponant is Fletcher
Thompson-conservative, flag
wrapped. Republican
Armed Services and Ap- dollars on a telephone hookup to Congressman from
Atlanta
propriations is closely assiciated
with Vietnam, and the
Agriculture and Forestry
committee is sitting on top of the
recent Wheat Deal with the
Soviet Union. According to the
National Student Lobby however,
the men (Republicans) who would
replace the democratic chairmen
are not significantly different.
Margaret Chase Smith of Maine
is a slight improvement over
John Stennis for chairmenship of
the Armed Sevices committee,
but her voting record is still
rigidly conservative.
Considering the alternatives to
Southern, Democratic chairmen,
Sam Nunn's argument is not
the moon while the people in the
ghettos of New York City, the
people on Indian reservations in
Oklahoma, and those people
working in a southwest Georgia
peanut field went hungry.
The other choice for president
is a man whos right to dwell in the
hearts of the American people
lies somewhere between the fact
that he’s the son of a poor circuit
riding South Dakota Methodist
minister and his awesome action
as a B-52 pilot over Bulgaria
during World War II. Yes,
George McGovern
Fletcher the guy who wants to
prosecute Jane Fonda for her
Radio Hanoi broadcast. Actually
he should thank Jane for giving
him a cause to get his name in the
newspapers after his Free Calley
movement died away. As a
congressman, Fletcher TTiomp
son has done in tie for the people
of Georgik now he’s asking you to
send him and his ominous powers
of inactivity to that hot bed of
futile motion the U.S. Senate
Just what this state needs-a
Republican Herman Talmadge
Two bright spots can be seen i
wants and
needs your vote. If you don’t like the state's political format this
one of his previously stated fall, Jimmy Carter is not running
. . _ c , welfare programs or tax reforms and David Gambre'l has already
Irfc^rn'tw! he 1' be to sUte or propose been defeated. At least the dull.
, N J m " ' s „ caUy another one just for you. Let's see boring rhetoric that only these
.... ... It s not just Sam Nunn who is thats Welfare Prop. 14- Tax Ref. two “political giants” are
guilt like in trying to claim a x nmnmg for the Senate November u. « should be noted that the capable of inflicting on the public
patent, or copyright a solution, stsssosxatiwsisssfiia 7. It s the South. previously stated figures masses wiU be absent