I would like to take this opportunity to respond to a column written by the quite unsound, though perhaps furious Dean Bakopoulos ("The gospel according to Ralph," 9/5/96) that appeared in the welcome-back issue of the Daily (yes, Faulkner is turning in his grave).
The piece shamelessly attacked Ralph Reed and the Christian Coalition in a most non-objective manner - even for the Daily. Unfortunately, Dean does not know much about Reed or his ideology beyond what he reads in Rolling Stone or hears from Tabitha Soren on MTV.
He dares to claim (as opposed to argue) that even Jesus Christ would be attacked by the coalition's leader. Bakopoulos apparently left his uncracked, dust-laden Gideon's Bible at home when he set out to become a cross between Dave Barry and Howard Stern, armed with a mean, non-ethical dagger largely drawn from the latter.
To his credit, he largely succeeds in making conservative Christians seem the very devil themselves. Being a Christian, however, does not mean that you condone all conduct, no matter how grossly it debases Christianity.
Any amateur student of Christian theology knows that being a sincere Christian means you understand, or try to understand the behavior and then work from there in a fair and loving manner.
It is no surprise that Bakopoulos attacks those who stand for family values and implies still, that by doing just that, family values are being promoted. Logic truly abounds ...
Reed, like his critics, minces no words, but since he cannot crack a smile as large as Arkansas, he is labeled as a scheming cynic who would starve a newborn by his liberal counterparts.
Hopefully, Dean will start rolling up his sleeves and doing some real research before he begins his prose, which, despite the blatant lack of any hint of objectiveness, towers above that of his sentence-challenged, column name-happy colleagues at the Daily.
I do not condone all (or necessarily any number) of the Christian Coalition's actions, but I do understand from where Reed and they are coming, as I do with Dean Bakopoulos and the Daily.
Chauncey Hitchcock
LSA senior