To the Editors:
As a proud graduate of the College, I am thrilled to hear that chapel is taking place in a school founded by evangelical Congregationalists.
The claim that every chapel sermon should be pan-Protestant, friendly to all strands, however, is laughable (in response to the story printed in last week's article "BCF chapel service sparks controversy").
There are roughly 800 million Protestants around the world and hundreds of denominations.
There are charismatic Trinitarians and oneness Pentecostals; fundamentalist Baptists and social-gospel Baptists; evangelical Quakers and Messianic Jews.
There are more shades of Lutheranism alone than there are flavors in Baskin-Robbins.
As a student of two Protestant graduate programs, I can assure Miss Herman that Protestants fundamentally protest one another's views.
That said, the view of sexual ethics espoused by Sandy Williams is perfectly in keeping with the historic teaching of all major Protestant denominations.
The administration is not responsible for ensuring that everyone on campus agree with every word at chapel. The same is not expected of Hillel, the Muslim Student Association, or professors.
I applaud the administration for restarting chapel (last held in the days of my grandfather's Bowdoin tenure), and urge it to allow unfettered and non-hostile speech to flourish.
Sincerely,
Owen Strachan '03