Well, controversy and drama has certainly been building here at Carson-Newman for the last few months. First, let me tell you a little about my place of higher learning. Carson-Newman is a private, four-year college that is funded in part by the Tennessee Baptist Convention. We are a Bapstist college, but CN is more moderate than conservative. This fact seems to disturb some people. One thing that happened on campus before the election was that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club kicked out one of their student leaders because they supported John Kerry and often wore Kerry t-shirts. That was the rumor that spread like wildfire on campus. FCA responded and said that the leader was let go because he did not act in accordance to the Bible or in a way that demonstrated FCA morals. I don't know exactly what they meant by that. I really don't know the person, and how they acted. I have heard that this guy is a nice person and that he wouldn't act foolishly, but that is another rumor that I heard. I have also heard that since than that FCA has brought the guy back into the club and once again has active membership. Another controversy that has took place is with the placing of a cross in front of the Student Activities Center, or affectionately called The SAC by CN students. This cross was created in a chapel a few weeks ago were people could write their sins that were holding them back from Christ on a piece of paper and nail it on a cross. I thought that was a great idea. This week, the guy over campus ministries decided to put the cross up on campus. He sent out over the CN email system a message that explained what the cross was up for and where it came from. Evidently, some people didn't like the idea, and they struck back. Messages started to be sent over campus email that the two sides used to argue back and forth. The main arguement was that the cross was being used to lift the person that put it up on a higher pedestal. The campus computing people got tired of it and even disbanded the campus-wide mailing list. Guys, this is a Baptist college. What does it matter if a cross is up for everyone to see who we are devoted to. If you find that offensive, leave. This guy's job is to make CN a better environment for Christians. That is all he was doing: his job. Get over it. Another raging controversy deals with a student I will call Mr. T and the Tennessee Baptist Convention, our sponsors and heavy donors. Mr. T wrote in the Jefferson City newspaper last week about how our school is too liberal on religious issues. That got everyone in an uproar. Last night, the Convention gathered in a local town for their annual conference. One of the discusssions was focused on colleges that the Convention supports. Mr. T evidently got up and made a passionate speech about Carson-Newman and how liberal they were when dealing with religion. This created another uproar among our donors. Many are now wanting an investigation into our religion department, and some are ever talking about withdrawing support from our school. Now, wouldn't that be awful! People would have to leave and tuition would raise just because of this extreme conservative guy that thinks that the Baptist college is too liberal. What a disgrace. We Christians gathered to learn can't agree on anything religious. How horrible that is!
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