Erik Bootsma, I, for one, hope you are the only student in this fine institution who took offense at the cartoon published in this paper making light of the Eucharist. You argue that while we can debate the presence of God in the Eucharist, "all of [the institution's] organs should point to the truth" and that the Eucharist is not "an acceptable form of ridicule," ("Eucharist comic was blasphemous," Feb. 26).
I'm not going to quote Bible verses back at you, but do you really think that The Observer should censor its content from a religious point of view? Notre Dame, as you may have noticed, isn't a hotbed of diversity, especially when it comes to religious views. I can't imagine this image would be improved by quashing satire that pokes fun at the Catholic faith. One day, you may have to accept that not only does everyone not share your views, many of us don't want your views being forced upon us, even though we attend a Catholic university.
To quote Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, "But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."
Jake Vos
graduate student
off campus
Feb. 26
