Letter to the Editor: Religious fanatics on campus

Today a religious fanatic was proselytizing over a loudspeaker at the Marshall Student Center that could clearly be heard from the Psychology-Communication Sciences & Disorders building to the Business Administration building and beyond.  

After making such ludicrous claims like — paraphrasing — “God cured me of all kinds of STDs,” and alleging that our individual success is due to some deity, I must protest.  

Allowing zealots like that access and use of our resources is effectively an endorsement — an endorsement that saddens me greatly. Our public university has no place harboring or even humoring this type of delusional behavior. I shudder to think what any visitors or new students may think. 

On the outskirts of the university grounds we’re teaching mathematics, engineering and biology, while the central hub blares a message about the supernatural cure to STDs, depression and homosexuality. 

Those responsible went so far as to attempt “healings” and were allegedly “speaking in tongues.” Allowing the continued use of university property and resources to spout a religious message with no basis in reality or scientific fact stands in conflict with everything public higher education stands for. Any rational person would tell you prayer healings and speaking in tongues are obvious works of fiction. 

Next time, let’s just have Hamlet broadcast across campus instead of this garbage.

Patrick Sebesta is a graduate student studying management information systems.