Through the Looking Glass: Got Christ?
Even if it were your business, one cannot rate spiritual devotion on a 10-point scale
By Sarah Delia, staff writer
Posted on September 5, 2006

A word to the wise: if you happen to be walking through the commons when various clubs or organizations are handing out fliers, take them all, hold on to them throughout the rest of the day, if only so you can flash them in the eyes of passer-outers as a badge of acceptance as if to say, “I have a flier, so leave me alone.” As one that passes out fliers for WXJM, I must tell you that it hurts when people dodge us like some sort of disease, or when a person thinks if they don’t make eye contact, we don’t see them (trust me, we do). That being said, I feel for all people my fellow classmates being roasted in the sun only to be rejected time and time again, so not only did I pass out my fliers, but I took one from everyone who was out there as well.

I ventured over to a certain group of students whose table was colorfully decorated and had a strange man dancing around in a chicken suit. When I asked what their fliers were about and what the chicken had to do with them, I received an equally bewildering response: “This is the Campus Crusade table. We’re handing out surveys so students can assess their religious devotion to the Lord,” a girl told me. “The chicken is just to attract people. You know, for fun.”

Slightly relieved that I had not missed some Biblical reference that any good Catholic should know (being Catholic myself) concerning chickens, I looked down upon my orange square of paper. The first question asked me to rate on a scale of one to 10 my devotion to Christ. According to the Campus Crusade organization, one’s love for God can be simplified to a digit, a numerical value, like an SAT or ACT score. What golden number, I wondered, would get me into the pearly gates of heaven so that I may be saved and educated at the University of Christ? The next question asked me how many times I prayed during the day, because certainly my personal prayer life is the business and concern of these students who have nothing better to do but scrutinize my relationship with God. The other question begged me to tell just how many times I attended church, and which one it was. What for? To stalk me, jump out of some nearby bush as I walk home and convert me? Appalled by the survey, I politely declined to fill it out.

During my time here at JMU I have been exposed to a world of political extremes, whether it’s the several families that roll into town to inform us that the end is near and to hop on the Christ bandwagon, or others who pass out fliers of dead fetuses. I am, however, most disappointed — and quite frankly, saddened — by the likes of groups such as Campus Crusade, a student-run organization that should know better than the other crazies that make camp on campus.

I’m a firm believer that, although I am a practicing Catholic, there’s more than one right way to get to the same answer. Condemning a person because they don’t go to church every week or practice a different religion is not only hateful but extremely hypocritical. I have to wonder if the bracelets many of these kids wear asking “What Would Jesus Do?” slightly burn from their insincerity. To say that everyone follows verbatim what their religion says is a lie. Sex before marriage, lying, stealing, temptation, lust, excessive drinking and impure thoughts are all things that jog through each of our minds, whether we act upon them or not. Show me a person that hasn’t given into some sort of sin before, and I will either reveal one of two things to you: a robot, or Jesus Christ.

Sarah Delia is a sophomore English and art history major.