Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote “We owe the Convention nothing other than our voluntary participation.” -Roger Orman, North Trenholm Baptist Church Page 4 1£flC 03HlCCOCk Wednesday, June 21,2000 Whc (Samcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Miranda LaLonde • Editor in Chief Ann Marie Miani • Managing Editor Pete Johnson • Viewpoints Editor John Huiett • News Editor Religious decisions should not be made for mass population I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under (insert deity here), indivisible, with liber ty and justice for all. With all the religious revelations that occurred this week, one is left to wonder if this will be the Supreme Court’s next ruling. The Court decided Monday that prayer does not belong at high school events. So students cannot ask out loud for the safety of their football players in the upcoming season. Hopefully, school offi cials will replace the prayer time with a moment of silence for private prayer. Since religion doesn’t belong in public schools there should be no prayer at school events. Saying a Christian-type prayer before a football game is leaving out over half the religions in the world. However, by having a moment of silence in stead of a prayer students can pray to whichever deity they choose. Additionally, the Southern Baptist Convention has declared that women no longer belong in the pulpit- a step back for the women’s movement. Luckily, the SBC is not the word of God, and the Southern Baptists of this fine city are not com plying. Some might agree with the decision but say it is based on the Bible and not a committee of men who try to interpret it. Does anyone else nnd it interesting ttiat mere mortals are exnausung vast amounts of energy and, supposedly, intelligence in efforts to prove that their deivine ver sion of God, or lack thereof, is the prototype for anyone who cares? The word “God” is now being used with such delicacy that it would not be surprising if it were banned from schools altogether. Religion is a person’s freedom and one of the basic rights listed in the First Amendment. Limiting vocal prayer and the sex of those people who can lead it is treading on dangerous ground. And if they find they can limit that, they just might try banning our editorials next. ABOUT US Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising and Classified 777-3888 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Newsroom 777-7726 E-mail Editor gcked@sc.edu News gamecocknews@hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Etc. gamecocketcetera@hotmail.com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250 300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Both must include name, phone number, pro fessional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten sub missions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333 E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation.The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space Anonymous letters will not be published. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock s the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday. Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed m The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications 6 the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media s the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. The Gamecock Miranda LaLonde Editor in Chief Ann Marie Miani Managing Editor Features Editor John Huiett News Editor Pete Johnson Viewpoints Editor Student Media Ellen Parsons Director Susan King Creative Director Kenton Watt Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jeff Romig Sports Editor Jacquelyn Poston Copy Desk Chief Photo Editor Sean Rayford Photo Editor Will Gillaspy Online Editor Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant Todd Hooks Creative Sen/ices Brantley Roper Gina McKelvey Robyn Gombar Melissa Milien Advertising Staff Washington Post "RI6HT- MAIM TH/N6 IS TO KEEP A WATTH (PN THOSE SMALLER CARS” /. ^ <V n "ANP I'VE HAP TMP TERMS AS A CHIEF EXECUTIONER- I MEAN EXECUTIVE* Social Issues Violent 'celebration' mars win Well, the Lakers won the NBA champi onship Monday night. It was their first in 12 years and their first under Head Coach Phil Jackson. I think I would rather have watched the Clip pers win instead. I don’t like these Lakers. I find it im possible to root for Shaquille 0 Neill and Kobe Bryant. They are the new breed of NBA superstar. A breed based on huge salaries. A breed based on showboating rather than “Showtime.” Shaquille O’Neill is a talented bas ketball player; there is no doubt about it. But Iris talent is mainly derived from his size. He can dunk the ball 15 times a game, but he can’t even hit half of his free throws. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant at tempts circus-like shots while being dou ble and triple teamed. It’s like he has watched too many Michael Jordan high light reels. If I were a Laker fan, I would be looking back at those “Showtime" teams of the ‘80s and shaking my head at the lost majesty of a great franchise. These Lakers don’t deserve a championship. But even more than that, their fans don’t deserve one either. After the win, more than 6,000 fans gathered outside of the Staples Center (God, I miss the Great Western Fo rum), to “celebrate” the win by setting fire to T-shirts and posters, throwing bot tles, breaking parked car windows and lighting them on fire (including two police cars), and even overturning a tele vision news van. Such class from a distinguished group of respectable citizens. It looked just like a scene from the L.A. race riots of ‘92 all over again. Don’t people typically celebrate af ter a joyous occasion? I would certain ly think they don’t normally set fire to things and throw rocks and other blunt objects when they’re happy. That’s like going to your buddy’s wedding and start ing a food fight with the rest of the guests right after the reception. Who knows? Maybe the good citi zens of L.A. and its surrounding ghet tos were actually celebrating the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King during the race riots. The reaction Monday night was certainly a similar one. Maybe destroying personal property is a time-honored California celebration ritual. I just don t understand how people today can get away with such ridiculous behavior. The police even said afterwards that they didn’t want to get violent with the crowd, even after they had been ri oting for two hours. Because they were focusing simply on looting and pillaging and leaving out the rape and murder por tion of general anarchy, the cops decid ed they would just kinda stand around. What ever happened to yelling at the top of your lungs and high fiveing your friends? Why is it that violence brings people closer together in celebration? There is no question that this Lak er championship, the first for a major sports franchise in L.A. in the past 12 years, brought the people together. These people celebrated together, most of them peacefully, united regardless of race or creed. In a city that has been traditionally racially tensed, whites and blacks joined together to break car windows. Hispan ics and Muslims stood side by side as they set parked cars on fire. It was the kind of scene that didn’t exactly bring tears to your eyes. The Lak ers likely lost some fans on Monday night. The city of Los Angeles certainly lost a lot of respect from me. And they did not have very much to begin with. Don’t worry, if you missed the post game celebration, the championship pa rade will be on Wednesday. Pete Johnson is a journalism senior and view points editor. He can be reached at gamecock viewpoints@hot mail.com