Have you ever wondered to yourself, “Why doesn’t Ohio University have a theology department?” Well, it’s because the authors of our state’s constitution, along with the authors of the Constitution of the United States, intended our government to remain secular.
In support of this, I cite the Bill of Rights of the Ohio Constitution:
No person shall be compelled to . . . maintain any form of worship, against his [or her] consent; and no preference shall be given, by law, to any religious society.
Because OU receives money from the state, I argue that the university and all of its parts are subject to the Ohio Constitution.
OU is inherently a secular institution because of the partial subsidy it receives from the state. Therefore, since the Christian rap concert was funded by the Student Activities Commission (SAC), I argue that the event was in violation of the State Constitution. It ought never to have taken place.
Quite obviously, it’s now too late to put a stop to this; the damage is done. By having to pay into this quarter’s general fund, from which SAC receives its funding to disperse to religious organizations, every single student was “compelled to . . . maintain [the Christian] form of worship against his [or her] consent.”
Divine Covering, the student organization that held the unlawful concert in a state-funded institution, received $1,329.11 for their event. The outrageous part: out of something like 16,000 students, not one spoke out about the issue? This is really disquieting, OU.
All of that money could have gone to a more secular – and therefore infinitely more deserving – program that may have actually been somewhat edifying.
Moreover, shame on SAC for not tabling this issue when Divine Covering’s proposal for funding was submitted and considered.
The religious freedom of the state of Ohio and that of the entire United States of America is precious. Indeed, many sources attribute our nation’s high level of religiosity to our separation of church and state.
This freedom is good for believers because they can feel free to spread their own original nonsense on an equal playing field — and eventually get tax-breaks for it, to boot.
For example, the Church of Scientology, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Church of Christian Science are all uniquely American religions that have sprung up and benefited from this.
On the flipside, our religious freedom is good for nonbelievers (e.g., atheists and agnostics) because they’re not dragged into paying for or giving consent to any one religion because of their citizenship.
If I were still a student at OU, I would be outraged by this approval from SAC; alas, I have finally moved on and am now in the land of honey and milk.
Nonetheless, I take some pride in calling myself an alumnus of OU, and I deeply hope that no more students be compelled to indirectly finance any more sectarian religious events on campus.
Morgan Chaney is a 2010 Ohio University graduate.
