The Bowdoin Orient

Over the past month, I hope to have demonstrated to my theistic audience that faith and reason go hand in hand. Many of the most brilliant minds on the planet believe in God. I turn to Emmanuel Kant as a perfect example. Kant believed in a system of morality that could exist without a divine. He formulated a categorical imperative: one should act only if he can posit his actions as a maxim that could constitute a universal law.

My last column ("Responding to Hitchens's ethical challenge," Apr. 4, 2008) looked at Christopher Hitchens's challenge to theists: "Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer." Basically, I concluded that Hitchens misses the point of religion.

As author of this column, I feel compelled to respond to Christopher Hitchens's Common Hour last Friday. If you are not familiar with him, Hitchens recently published "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." During Common Hour, Hitchens gave a brief summary of his dislike for religion. He also gave a challenge he believes is unanswerable.

2004. Concord High School is the ideal place to be for a teenager interested in politics. As the public high school of the state capital where the first primary takes place, a lot of the presidential candidates come to speak. As Concord tends to be one of New Hampshire's liberal hubs, the "student center" (dirty cafeteria) and auditorium tend to hold talks and rallies, particularly for the Democrats.

As those who have been following the presidential race know, John Edwards recently made his exit. In his 2004 campaign, Edwards frequently talked about "two Americas," describing a country where the rich have everything and the poor have nothing.

After observing the presidential debates surrounding taxation, I have been intrigued by the estate tax. As the laws currently stand, one can pass on up to $2,000,000 upon death tax free to their heirs. I have heard a variety of stances regarding the issue.

As December rolls around, I thought I might break the seal on campaign issues. I would like to discuss a consequence of medical liability lawsuits on health care that is not very well known. Most people know that doctors' insurance has inflated dramatically as there have been increasing incidences of lawsuits brought against physicians. The rising insurance is often blamed for the skyrocketing health care costs. However, insurance is only a fraction of the problem.

If my Orient reading habits are at all representative of the Bowdoin population, I generally turn straight to the Security Report and then flip to the letters to the editor. I typically enjoy the Opinion section, reading the potpourri of ideas tossed around. However, towards the end of last year, I grew less satisfied with the section.

Some recent Bowdoin occurrences prompted me to do a good deal of thinking about the word "tolerance." I have always found tolerance to be a curious notion. Bowdoin, along with many other liberal arts institutions, attempts to achieve a goal of acceptance amongst its diverse community of students. "Tolerance" has become a buzzword, which I believe we use with little thought of its meaning.

On my second day of substitute teaching, I was given the responsibility of monitoring about 200 students in Rundlett Middle School's second cafeteria, alone. Middle school lunch duty is arguably the worst job substitute teachers receive. A fight only exacerbated the situation.

This summer I spent a lot of time thinking about pain. I tore my hamstring in early May, and an orthopedic surgeon said it would probably take four to five months to heal. I am well aware that a torn hamstring is trivial in the overall scheme of life, but, as an active individual forced to forgo summer league basketball, I spent May and June complaining about my ailment, "why me?" However, my self pity was short lived, as a series of events drastically transformed my thought process throughout the rest of the summer.

I recently read a quote from one of atheism's spokesmen. He was criticizing religion and said that the world would be a better place without it. That statement intrigued me. The history of turmoil brought about by conflicting religions in Europe and Middle East over the past two centuries is often used as an argument for how much trouble religion has the potential for causing.

Bowdoin performed well at the 2007 Maine State Meet, finishing with 205 points, good for second place. This was more than enough to knock off Colby (96) and the University of Southern Maine (USM) (73). However, it was not enough to defeat the talented and experienced squad from host Bates (226).

Last Friday, Students Embracing Disabilities (SED) sponsored a viewing of "Mind Games," the story of a former Bowdoin student, Dr. Thomas French, who succumbed to Lou Gehrig's disease.

Every year the issue of censorship seems to arise. Last year, students boycotted an anti-V-day event. It was quite effective and attendance at the event was sparse.

A wise man once philosophized about diversion. He stated that the only true path to happiness is immortality. This obviously posed a formidable challenge to humans. He then went on and described our tendency to dive into distractions, to avoid thinking about our ephemerality.

The inequality in American education is an issue constantly surfacing in politics. Many cry foul that students in affluent communities receive a better education and more opportunities than the underprivileged. However, inequality is inherent in a capitalist society.

For the second year in a row, the Bowdoin Men's Indoor Track Team entered the Maine State Meet as underdogs, and for the second year in a row, the Polar Bears emerged victorious. The team's confidence was not unfounded as the Bears defeated Bates, the University of Southern Maine, and Colby.

In the upcoming presidential election, the environment should emerge as one of the most important issues. As our population continues to grow, the squeeze on resources becomes more acute. In a global economy, the exponential growth in China and other Asian countries exacerbates the problem for Americans. When the United States was the only country consuming large quantities of oil, we could afford to expend it.

The Bowdoin Men's Indoor Track Team placed fourth out of five teams last Saturday, January 27. MIT won the meet, followed by Tufts and Springfield. Colby finished fifth.

In light of last week's "Pro-life: a fetal incoherence," I'd like to take this opportunity to express an atypical pro-life argument. It is not that fetuses are "almost human beings," but rather the fact that they are future human beings that gives them value.

Many times throughout the past two years at Bowdoin, I have acquired the label "closed-minded" due to some of my "conservative" points of view. I would like to point out that being open-minded has nothing to do with one's political or philosophical leanings. The way I understand it, an open-minded attitude refers to the ability to listen to others' arguments and engage in intellectual discussion about the issue at hand.