Peasall sisters to visit Covenant

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page 3
Double take on Soulforce
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The Bagpipe
Vol. 53, No. 22
T he
st u d e n t n e w sp a p e r a t
C o v e n a n t C o ll e g e
s in c e
t
www.bagpipeonline.com
1955.
T h u r sd a y , M a r c h
29,2007
Peasall sisters to visit Covenant
by
A is l in n L e a h y
T he Grammy award-winning
Peasall sisters will visit chapel
April 18.
T he occasion is the Spirit
of Friendship Award, an annu­
ally awarded scholarship, ranging
from $2000 to $3000, established
by the Bates family in honor of
Danny Bates, a Covenant student
who died in an accident in 1988.
T he accident was just three
weeks before Danny’s brother
Joh n Bates, who is the director of
Development and O peration at
Covenant, graduated from Cove­
nant. Friendships at Covenant got
him through the time, said Bates.
Bates said the scholarship pro­
vided closure for his family. “With
everything that had to be done,
including the memorial service,
I got back to Covenant a week
before graduation. I never had a
chance to thank everyone for their
support.”
T he award, said Bates, is “a
way to acknowledge those people
who live their lives in C hrist... P v
my family’s way of saying ho
thankful we are.” Student Devel
opm ent chooses the student who
most exemplifies the Romans
12:9-18 passage as the recipient.
see Peasall sisters, page 2
The Church and Political Intervention
by
Oleg Shadrin is a diversity student from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Intercultural competence
Diversity is thrust of QEP
by
Je s s i e H a r r i s
T h e adm inistration acknowl­
edges that m any students are ill
prepared for cross-cultural expe­
rience on and off campus.
After a series of faculty m eet­
ings, one of which included tes­
timonies from diversity students,
and after a mixed response to the
Hip H op Squad’s perform ance
in chapel last year, the faculty
picked “Developing Intercultural
Com petence Through Divergent
Learning Events,” as the Quality
Enhancem ent Plan (QEP).
“I thought, whoa! We’re actu­
ally getting official recognition,”
said Anna M arshall, a m em ber of
the Diversity Team and the M ul­
ticultural Committee.
A m em ber o f the Q E P steer­
ing committee, Dr. M ask said that
there is ignorance and some rac­
ism on campus. “I’m supposed to
know better, and I still say stupid
things,” said Mask.
In Fall 2008, Christian Mind
will incorporate Divergent Learn­
ing Events (DLE), cross-cultural
see Intercultural, on page 2
M ic h a e l R h o d e s
T he w ar in Iraq has become
one of the most divisive issues of
the past few years, both in the cul­
ture at large and within the body
o f Christ. Christians from all over
the denominational and theologi­
cal spectrum have taken up arms
on both sides of the debate, pas­
sionately arguing w hether we
should have gone to Iraq in the
first place, and what we should
now that we are there.
W hat the conflict has not led
to, unfortunately, is a broader
discussion about the role of po­
litical intervention in general.
T he arguments from Christians
on either side of the debate have,
for the most part, failed to come
up with a coherent paradigm for
determining where, when, and
how, if ever, we should support
the United States government’s
use of force or economic power
to intervene in the inner workings
of other nation states. In other
words, when countries are doing
things we don’t like, whether to
other nations or to their own peo­
ple, what are we to do about it?
This is one of the most im por­
tant issues to be discussed in the
church today. A n over emphasis
on personal piety, a misguided
understanding o f America as be­
ing G od’s chosen nation, and a
hesitancy to speak with conviction
into the political spectrum have
kept the Church from having in­
fluence on foreign policy over the
last century or so, and have left
us passively supporting a host of
atrocities committed by our very
own U.S. of A.
O u r inability to understand
the complexities of the Cold W ar
era kept the church from becom­
ing the dom inant force for change
that it should have been after
World W ar II. During the Cold
War, we allowed our belief in uni­
versal hum an rights and democ­
racy for the T hird World to be
overshadowed by our doctrine of
containment. Enter the Vietnam
and Korean conflicts. Enter the
CIA operations which helped put
Sese Seko M butu, arguably the
More th an a touch of spring is in the air.
see Church, on page 2
2
NEW S
T hursday , M a r c h 2 9 ,2 0 0 7
from Peasall sisters, on page i
from Chur ch, on page i
Bates, who grew up with the
Peasall sisters’ father, invited the
sisters to this year’s award cer­
emony.
“These are just genuine young
women,” said Bates. They are
“very blue-grassy,” and “not the
typical chapel fare,” he said.
Sarah, H annah, and Leah
Peasall— ages 19, 16, and 13, re­
ceived Grammy and CMA awards
for their the roles as the singing
voices for George Clooney’s char­
acter’s daughters in the movie 0
Brother, Where Art Thou?.
The girls are home-schooled
and have performed at Carnegie
Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and
the G rand Ole Opry. They have
two albums of their own, their lat­
est titled Home to Ton.
most destructive African dictator
of the last 50 years, in power in
what is now the Democratic Re­
public of Congo. Enter our sup­
port of Islamic resistance move­
ments in Afghanistan like the
very Taliban which we are now so
desperately trying to destroy. The
Church looked on in silence, and
our hands are red with the blood
of millions of victims of govern­
ment intervention gone horribly
wrong.
Now the world has changed,
and the Church has again failed
to respond. This new world is
a world of suicide bombers, in­
creased religious fundamental­
ism, and globalization on previ­
ously unprecedented levels. Now,
more than ever, the church must
encourage the international com­
munity, beginning with our very
own nation, to fight for justice for
the people of the world. An ex­
cellent contemporary example is
the genocide occurring right now
in Sudan. T he Sudanese govern­
ment stationed in K hartoum has
licensed the systematic rape and
slaughter of literally hundreds of
thousands. The government has
rejected U.N. intervention, and
most recently the indictment of
several members of the govern­
ment on charges of crimes against
humanity by the I.C.C. They
have broken more than six peace
agreements with rebel groups in
Darfur, and still the international
community refuses to act. This is
partially due to the fact that C hi­
na has a vested economic interest
in the current regime, and par­
oysterridgemusicfestival.com
from Intercultural, on page i
experiences such as a field trip
to a cultural restaurant or an inclass simulation, followed by stu­
dent reflection and evaluation. If
the D LE’s catch on in Christian
Mind, they will be used in Global
Trends, Intercultural Experience,
and Christ and Culture, said
Mask.
The goal, said Q EP steering
Committee member, Dr. Eames,
is intercultural “competency.”
According to the QEP, students’
critical thinking skills, cultural
empathy and flexibility and cam­
pus climate will improve.
“W hat we need to remember
is that it’s not going to do a thing
unless God is at work in people’s
hearts,” said Marshall. “We need
to bathe the situation in prayer.”
Defining “who is my neigh­
bor” is the first step in the QEP.
Mask says that accepting different
ethnic groups as neighbors is “attitudinal.”
“We deny cultural differences
or are defensive of our culture,”
added Ward. Once students learn
cultural structures and terminolo­
gy under the QEP, they can move
to application, said Ward.
In East Africa, says Ward, it is
not unusual for someone to take
his or her neighbor’s bike without
asking. An inter-culturally compe­
tent student, says Ward, would be
slow to accuse and mindful of the
culture’s concept of borrowing.
Empathy is the cornerstone of
the QEP, says Eames. It is impor­
tant to understand the purposes
behind customs and values differ­
ent than ours, he said.
Mask said that some African
cultures practice female genital
mutilation to protect their daugh­
ters’ chastity. “I am not saying,
‘Excuse sin,”’ but understanding
their motives and finding “con­
nection points” is appropriate,
said Mask.
Mask and Eames agree that
empathy is different from toler­
ance. “We are absolutely opposed
to tolerance,” because it implies
a compromise of principle, said
Eames. Mask cites Christ’s re­
sponse to the Samaritan woman
at the well. “He was empathetic,
but not tolerant,” of her sin, said
Mask.
Eames learned the importance
of intercultural competence after
his clinical internship in psychol­
ogy at the University of Geor­
gia. He sat across the table from
people of different ethnicities
and sexual orientations. “I had to
think through what is appropri­
ate. . .How do I deal with different
situations without compromising
T h e B a g p ip e
my faith,” he said.
Mask says that different cul­
tures provide a richer picture of
who God is. “You can’t know God
fully in white Suburban Ameri­
ca,” he said. A Christian in a third
world country knows Jehovah
Jireh, the God who provides, in “a
way I didn’t know,” he said.
Chinese
Christians,
says
Eames, understand the concept
of original sin better than indi­
vidualistic Americans.
Eames says that intercultural
competence is important even for
the “homebody” like himself who
has never been abroad. Students
are likely to work with culturally
diverse people in the future, said
Eames.
“Just go to the Walmart in
Fort Oglethorpe to have a cross
cultural engagement,” says Ward,
pointing to the vastly growing
numbers of minorities in the
Unites States, including Hispanics
and Muslims.
Q EP planning will continue in
the next academic year. The pilot
year will begin 2008-2009 and full
implementation of the plan will
follow in the next three years. The
Q EP is necessary for SACS ac­
creditation standards.
“Can academics help? Sure it
can, but I don’t think it’s the pan­
acea,” said Marshall.
tially because the rest of the world
has not shown the courage or the
determination to act decisively to
stop the slaughter.
Christians must begin to dis­
cuss seriously what the church
should support in terms of po­
litical intervention. While there
have been coherent paradigms
for intervention in the past, most
notably just war theory, these
paradigms need to be expounded,
added to, and applied to the cur­
rent world context. We have hid
too long behind the complexity
of the situations, and behind the
false idea that we cannot effective­
ly intervene politically in countries
where our economic intervention
has known no bounds. Dr. M ar­
tin Luther King once called the
Church to stop being a therm om ­
eter gauging the social climate,
and to become a thermostat which
would shape our culture and our
world. For us at Covenant, this
means being serious about un­
derstanding and discussing the
issues. It means building a theo­
logical framework which we can
apply practically to our world. It
means participating in lobbying,
letter writing campaigns, aware­
ness raising programs, and all the
rest. It means us shaking ourselves
free from our wealthy, secluded,
suburb-bound world and praying
as Amos did that justice would roll
on like a river. Let us take up this
call in our search to understand
what is required of us and of our
nation, that we might create a
world where oppressive autocratic
regimes like those of Sudan, Iran
and North Korea have no place to
stand.
WKLT Scots Radio!
Covenant College’s very own
Internet radio station!
Playing jazz, rock, pop, classical, and
other great music!
Listen online!
wklt.covenant.edu
Faculty Quote of the Week
“Because Germans have a nasty habit of marching east and shooting Rus­
sians in the 20th century.”
- Dr. Paul Morton, in 20th Century World History on tension between Germany and Russia during the start of the Cold War.
ADS/OPINION
T h e B a g pipe
Verdicts
T h u r s d a y , M a r c h 2 9 ,2 0 0 7
3
Two takes on Soulforce decision
Yes. ..to definite an­
by
swers from women to
proposals
to
Spring
Banquet.
No. ..to
C harlotte O k ie , J u stin B orger ,
M ax B elz
an d
hemming
and hawing. It’s Spring.
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E s ta b lis h e d in 1955
M a x B e lz
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The administration has decided to prevent
the Equality Ride bus from coming on cam­
pus by blocking our driveways. If the riders
attem pt to enter campus by foot as a formal
demonstration, they will also be stopped.
This issue is complex and we’re not pre­
tending to supply packaged answers, but we
wonder how some Biblical principles may or
may not have played into the decision denying
them to come. Reaching a definitive answer is
probably not possible.
T he administration has decided that these
people are more interested in demonstration
than they are in serious dialogue. Dr. Nielson
gave three reasons for denying Soulforce access
to our campus in a letter to the student body
on Tuesday.
First, their coming to campus would allow
“false teachers” to encourage struggling indi­
viduals to give in to temptation. 2 Peter 2:9 in
fact speaks explicitly about this kind of false
prophets. “T he Lord knows how to rescue the
godly from temptation.” The passage goes on
to say that these false prophets are guilty of
“indulging in the lust o f defiling passions and
despising authority,” both of which Soulforce
is guilty.
Second, allowing them to come would mis­
represent Covenant College’s position to the
media. T he college has already contacted lo­
cal media stations to pre-em pt any misconstruals on what position the college takes. In Luke
6:22-23, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when
m en .. .insult you and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day
and leap for joy because great is your reward in
heaven.” We should be a discerning Christian
witness, but reaching out to these folks might
be worth a little misrepresentation.
Third, allowing them to come is being complicit with their stance. By letting them talk to
students about the legitimacy of a homosexual
orientation, we are giving credence to their
position. M atthew 5:39 says, “Do not resist an
evil person.”
Dean Voyles was asked at the student fo­
rum what the real danger of allowing the Rid­
ers entrance to the campus is. His response
included a reference to student feedback over
the last few months. During that time, he said,
many students told him that they felt “very ner­
vous” with the Equality Riders having free ac­
cess to campus because they didn’t know what
they would say or how they should respond
when confronted.
T hat Voyles felt this was a legitimate reason
to bar the Equality Riders from campus seems
to show a lack of regard for one of the core
principles upon which Covenant was founded:
that we engage our culture, even when it makes
us “nervous.” To keep SoulForce from campus
is passing up an opportunity for the Covenant
body, as an institution firmly rooted in Bibli­
cal moral directives, to publicly counter these
distortions of the truth. We may even confront
distortions simply by being unafraid of the
doctrines presented.
O ur college has a valuable opportunity to
engage a position o f the world that we have
stiff-armed for a long time. By denying this
type of interaction, we postpone further the
need to love a people who have been neglected
by our church and our people for a long time.
This conflict on our front stoop seems like a
chance to advance our denomination in a way
that we’ve failed in the past.
Justin Borger graduated from Covenant in 2006.
by
D av id S cott
I believe I speak for a sizable portion of
the student body when I say that I was disap­
pointed when I heard the administration’s fi­
nal decision to enforce its ‘no trespassing’ rules
when the Equality Riders attem pt access to
Covenant College campus on M on., April 2. I
do not disagree with the decision. But I’m dis­
appointed that God did not plan to use this op­
portunity as I had hoped He might. I left John
Freeman’s chapel address on Tuesday morning
excited about the notion of approaching the
Equality Riders with a very Christ-centered
focus and praying with them that God would
reveal to us His will in our lives. I was look­
ing forward to hearing their stories and their
convictions and hopefully being able to share
some of my own.
Upon reflection and dialogue with other
students, I see that while my disappointment
may be a noble thing, at the same time it be­
trays a laziness on my part. While a visit by
representatives of Soulforce certainly consti­
tutes a unique experience and opportunity, it
is not as though I had been actively trying to
take the love of Christ to people practicing
homosexuality prior to the excitement of this
visit. In all sincerity, to what degree should I
be disappointed that I have ‘lost’ this chance
to share my faith if I am not taking the initia­
tive to share my faith in other arenas, whether
by living it out in front o f my fellow students,
or in interaction with non-believers? I believe
that this event sounded so promising to me in
part, because I viewed the Equality Riders as
individuals approaching us (me) for dialogue. I
viewed the visit as a potential ‘sedentary mis­
sions trip’ for the Covenant College commu­
nity, and as an impetus to awaken students to
see Soulforce, on page 4
NEED MONEY FOR BILLS AND SCHOOL?
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Essay Contest
First Prize $3,000
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Read Dr. Gordon Clark’s book, A Christian Philosophy of Education
(special contest price of $10), and write an essay about it. For com­
plete rules, visit www.trinityfoundation.org
The Trinity Foundation
Post Office Box 68
Unicoi, Tennessee 37692
The Bible alone is the Word of God.
4
T h u rs d a y , M a r c h
29,2007____________ ______________________
S P O R TS /O P IN IO N ___________________________________ _________________T h e B agpipe
Golf Team lands firmly
on the fareway
by
T h o m as P r et t y m a n
Covenant’s golf team traveled
to Milligan on M arch 14 for the
annual Milligan Invitational G olf
tournam ent.
Mike Dinwiddie led the way
with a score of 158 over the 36hole match (80, 78). Tim M ahla
from Soulforce, on page 3
our need to engage the world
and ideas which challenge our
beliefs.
In response to these things,
I think Covenant College needs
to evaluate its identity as a ‘city
on a hill.’ Stagnant faith breeds
easily on an isolated campus.
Even if the student body were
regularly visited by non-Chris­
tians, it is imperative upon us
as Christians to take the initia­
tive to speak the love, grace,
and mercy of Christ to those
who are hurting. W hatever
we take away from this expe­
rience, I hope that Covenant
students will be motivated by
an increased burden from the
Holy Spirit to step out o f their
comfort zones in prayer and in
practically living out the gospel
of Christ, both on and off cam­
pus.
shot a 162; Jon Wilkinson had
163; and Trevor Potts shot 165.
T he effort was good enough
to put Covenant at fourth in
team standings out of a field of
six teams.
T he Scots next match is
April 9 in Etowah, N.C., for the
Brevard Tournament.
Scots roughed up at Milligan
by
T h o m a s Pr e t t y m a n
T he Scots baseball team trav­
eled to Elizabeth ton, Tenn., this
weekend where they dropped a
pair of games to Milligan College
13-3 and 5-0.
Covenant got a stellar perfor­
mance from Sam Hogan with a
3 for 4 night including an RBI.
Aaron Caldwell, Thom as O ’Ban
and Ryan M oot also gave the
team hits.
T he Scots struggled defen­
sively, though, with Brent Neas
surrendering seven earned runs
in just over five innings to Mil­
ligan. But Milligan’s runs also
stemmed from a leaky defense,
which allowed four errors. It was
the bottom of the fifth that caused
problems for the Scots. Taking in
a one-run lead in the fifth, Cov­
enant could not hold back the
torrent o f offense from Milligan,
who scored eight runs in the next
Brian Figert
Tennis team humbled,
strengthened by loss
by
M a t t Pa n n k u k
T hrough the fires of fierce
competition and hard-fought loss
comes a team reborn like the
mighty Phoenix, intent on living
to fight another day. Though they
traversed the waters of hardship
and withstood the travail and an­
guish o f losing, the tennis team s’
determ ination and mettle will
stand all the firmer.
Both teams got this chance to
turn things around on M arch 14.
T he Lady Scots lost 2-7 to Vir­
ginia Interm ont, squeezing a pair
of victories out of the powerful
jaws of defeat. T he Covenant
m en have the chance to rise even
further from the ashes than the
Lady Scots, as they were burned
deeper and more completely go­
ing 0-9 against VI.
T he greater the tribulation,
the greater the resolve to trans­
form their non-winning experi­
ence into strength o f m ind and
fortitude of spirit. Virginia In­
term ont gave Covenant a grand
opportunity to prove their ability
to adapt and recover.
Though the statistics may tell
a bleak story, the light in the eyes
of the players and the hope in
their hearts reveal a deeper truth:
Hell hath no fury like a Covenant
tennis player scorned. I pity the
next Covenant opponent.
PhilipJHowlett
three innings.
In the second game, the Scots
were unable to jum p start their of­
fense, which was held to one hit
for the game. Pitcher Brian Figert
pitched five innings and surren­
dered all of Milligan’s five runs for
the ball game on seven hits and
two walks.
After this Tuesday’s game at
Lee University, the Scots take on
Bryan College this Saturday in a
double-header at Engel Stadium
in Chattanooga at noon.