Cross
Feb 3, 3:39 PM (ET)
By
SONJA BARISIC
The athiest, agnostic, humanist, and
homosexual Cabal’s war against God the cross the Bible moves on now from public
places – now in a historic chapel on a Roman Catholic university campus.
Both agree the chapel is a sacred space meaningful
to students, alumni, faculty and staff of the public school who use it for
religious services and secular events.
They clash,
though, over what to do with an unadorned, 18-inch brass cross that had been
displayed on the altar since about 1940.
Nichol ordered the cross removed in October to
make the chapel more welcoming to students of all faiths. Previously, the cross
could be removed by request; now it can be returned by request.
"It's the right thing to do to make sure that
this campus is open and welcoming to everyone," Nichol said. "This is
a diverse institution religiously, and we want it to become even more
diverse."
Haley and more than 10,000 supporters who have
signed his online petition since last fall want Nichol to put the cross back on
the altar permanently. More than 1,100 students, alumni and others have signed
a petition in support of Nichol since Jan. 31.
In response to early protests, Nichol decided in
December to return the cross to the chapel on Sundays, and he recently created
a committee that will examine the role of religion at public universities and
the use of the chapel.
The school's governing Board of Visitors meets
this coming Thursday and Friday, and Haley and his supporters - including some
alumni who have threatened to withhold donations until the cross is permanently
restored - want the panel to overrule Nichol. The board's agenda will not be
available until midweek, a school spokesman said.
"The message that is sent by removing the
cross is that we no longer value that part of our heritage, and that's a
mistake," said Haley, research director at the American Enterprise
Institute for former House speaker Newt Gingrich. "It reflects a view that
religious symbols - religion and the public expression thereof - are somehow an
obstacle for us to get along with one another."
Nichol, who became president in 2005, said perhaps
20 people mentioned concerns about the chapel's cross to him during his first
year and a half in the job.
"Does that marvelous place belong to
everyone, or is it principally for our Christian students?" Nichol said.
"Do we actually value religious diversity, or have we determined, because
of our history, to endorse a particular religious tradition to the exclusion of
others?"
William and Mary, founded by royal charter in 1693
with a mission that included training Anglican ministers, is the nation's
second-oldest university after Harvard. Alumni include President Thomas Jefferson.
William and Mary became a public school in 1906.
The chapel, built in 1732, is a wing of the
The issue has drawn the attention of prominent
conservatives including Gingrich, who recently weighed in with an opinion
column.
The student assembly defeated a resolution to
return the cross, and Nichols' decision was endorsed by faculty and by Campus
Ministers United, Jewish and Christian clergy who advise campus religious
organizations.
Student Clare Ngomba
said she was initially shocked by Nichol's action because she is a Christian,
but said she came to agree with him.
"Because we're a public college, it's a
better thing so that people are more open and more welcomed into the
community," said Ngomba, 19, of
Ro'ee Mor, a
student from
Since the cross' removal, he sometimes goes to the
chapel to meditate. "I feel more an integral part of the community due to
this symbolic action," he said.
Oscar Blayton, a
"Some of these people that are upset about
the cross issue have a notion that it is a predominantly Christian community
and Christians have more rights than other people," Blayton
said.