It's A New Day

After waiting a day for people to calm down, the revolution has noticed a few distinct responses to our actions; people either despise us for the right reasons, admire us for the wrong reasons, or, what we feel is the proper response, feel that we are irrelevant and idiotic. While we would like to explain ourselves, there are more pressing issues at the moment. I have written the administration regarding what I think of how our actions were dealt with and it is their responsibility to address you if they please.
Today we have the opportunity to speak with the administration regarding the issue of chapel scanners; because of the damning response I have had, I feel that my personal actions make it impossible to make open communication, and even underground I have to ask you to be as dispassionate as possible and consider the case as if it had simply come to you of its own volition rather than being forced upon you. So let me address you with a short letter:
Let me ask you some questions; why is it you care so much for upholding the “community” of Houghton College? Consider that you were to die tomorrow, or consider what it would be like if the whole school were sucked into a chasm, actually it’s probably best just to consider what it would be like to leave Houghton tomorrow and not come back.
Does the way you are attached to the “community” seem ridiculous at that point? Do you imagine that your heart would pine for the Houghton “community”? No, you would miss your friends, and you would miss the people; the “community” is an illusion which we create to help us be better people and doesn’t deserve our attention unless it serves its purpose.
Let us consider why it is that we have chapel scanners in the first place; obviously this is because people are not responsible enough to take care of their own spiritual formation; we are easily distracted and generally indifferent to such things as chapel, and even in our current situation it seems to be an overlooked experience. So how can we ask for such a thing considering that it will harm the students’ spiritual formation? Well personally I don’t see how it is that it will hurt students if they have to take accountability for their own spiritual formation; even if they were to fail miserably in their attendance, if there is some noticeable benefit that students get out of chapel, there will be a noticeable difference in the quality of life between those students who attend and those students who opt out. What does this leave us with? If there is a noticeable benefit to attending chapel then won’t the students who have this benefit do whatever they can to help their friends (don’t they have a Christian duty to?) and won’t those students who notice the benefit desire it for themselves? You might say that the benefits are such, and the condition of those students who don’t voluntarily attend is such that they will be unable to see it.
Well, then I should ask what advantage do they have in being forced to go to chapel? Will anyone who is there and unable to see the benefit for themselves be helped by being there? Perhaps it is that when they are forced to be there they will be able to see what they otherwise couldn’t. I ask you then, is chapel so paltry that we can’t see any benefit to the rest of our lives except while we’re there? This would be a horrible thing if it were to be true, but still, forcing the students to be there would not help the situation get better, it would only allow chapel to remain paltry.
I understand that this is an impractical and idealistic proposition this is; with clear benefits to having compulsory attendance, and likely injuries by removing it. Why do I feel this is important? Let me return to the Houghton “community.” Either approach we take regarding this issue we are forced to make a difficult decision; but who are we trying to advantage by requiring chapel? The community or the students? You may say they are the same thing, but just imagine you are going to die very soon (relatively this is true), and tell me you still see them as the same thing; what advantage have we done them now that we’re all dead? I understand that it is difficult to give up a present advantage for an unlikely future possibility; I understand that it is difficult to “die,” but this is what Christianity requires. We ultimately can’t help those students either way, but God can, so let us ask ourselves how we best serve God. Is Christianity such a mediocre thing that it requires compulsion, or is it better to leave it up to volition and take responsibility as individuals to help our friends better themselves (and I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen, but that it doesn’t happen enough), isn’t that a real community? It is not that chapel compulsion destroys Christianity as such, but that it excuses us from taking responsibility in the lives of our friends and fellow persons. I recommend that we give over control and instead take up responsibility. Compulsory chapel attendance treats us as children; obviously children need such a discipline, but when do we grow up?

Much love,
La Revolucion.