Religious bands have right to play on Mall

In response to the letter to the editor yesterday concerning religious music on campus: It seems as though a common stereotype has been shifted. Most people these days might agree that people who hold tightly to their religious beliefs are extremely closed-minded to other points of view and to outside ideas. However, to me it appears far more obstinate for someone to call cultural music "filth" and "pollution."

What is so wrong with religious music, anyway? I suppose it would create a far more pleasant and encouraging atmosphere on campus if we were to blast Prodigy's "Smack my Bitch Up," or maybe bump some "Kill You" by Eminem. Yes, the UA is a secular university, but there is no such thing as a secular world. Everywhere you go you are going to meet people of different races, cultures, and yes, even religions. To say that religious music should not be allowed on campus is disgustingly pigheaded ÷ especially in a time when our country is supposed to be united and the people are not supposed to just be tolerated, but accepted.

In any case, I would like to challenge anyone who supports the "legal separation of church and state" to find anywhere in our nation's legislature where that law can be found. After some research, they may find that there is no such law. Instead, it might be realized that the term was coined from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to a church in Connecticut in which he clarified to the congregation that "the government would not establish a national religion or tell men how to worship God."

So, my suggestion is this: We all need to devote a little more of our precious time and energy to listening to what other people have to say. To paraphrase Einstein, "Peace can only be attained through understanding."

Geoffrey Schultz
business freshman

Blame the individual for illegal abortion deaths

Susie Baldwin, in disagreement with an earlier letter of mine, stated that restrictions on abortion access cause both morbidity and mortality. She believes that when women died from illegal abortions, it was the illegality of abortion that killed these women.

How can Dr. Baldwin blame the law for these deaths when so many others are the ones at fault? No law ever forced women to have illegal abortions. These women made a choice to break the law and undergo dangerous surgery, either by an abortionist who chose to break the law or by attempting to perform surgery on themselves. Certainly, many boyfriends, husbands, parents or friends pressured these women to choose abortion; don't they share the blame for creating circumstances where women felt that doing something illegal and dangerous was their best option?

Dr. Baldwin neglected to mention that legal abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States, at approximately 1.3 million annually in recent years. Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, approximately 43 million children have died from legal abortions ÷ that's nearly 4,000 every single day in the United States alone.

Sara Stuhan
ASU chemical engineering senior

Tenants: Time to learn your landlord rights

In response to Jessica Lee's Tuesday column on landlords: I must issue a few more warnings she omitted. First, do not be afraid to get a lawyer. I was required to get a lawyer twice when dealing with my last landlord because he was such a delinquent. Second of all, know your rights. I know it's hard to believe, but you do have unalienable rights as a tenant.

You can get free copies of the Landlord Tenant Act from the local State office here in Tucson. Lastly, when you have the Landlord Tenant Act, read it and know it. There are many more things listed in the articles that Jessica was unable to include, such as the fact that the landlord has to give you 48 hours written notice before entering your apartment except in case of an emergency. This cannot be looked over; it is required by law. At my old complex, management lied to everybody, claiming it could go into the apartments as it pleased. There are likely more landlords out there who manipulate young college kids and knowingly break the law, only because the college kids do not know their rights are being violated. Also, don't be afraid to call the Health Department. At my old complex, it took four health department employees to convince management that water pouring through the ceiling and pooling in the living room was a health code violation. Please, take a few minutes to learn your rights and have the guts to protect them; you will save yourself a lot of grief in the long run. Also, find reviews on a place before you move in. The Web site www.apartmentratings.com has reviews of many apartments in Tucson and can be very helpful, so you don't end up in the bad places I have lived in.

Michael Warner
undeclared junior

Poor Israeli choices led to current bloodshed

People who support Israel always like to point out how Israel is a democratic oasis in the middle of a desert of brutal Middle Eastern dictatorships. What the pro-Israeli lobby should realize is that, given enough time, the desert always overwhelms the oasis and the palm fronds give way to cacti.

Israelis are by no means frontiersmen and the Palestinians aren't exactly Native Americans. While there might be elements in the Jewish society that are capable of being bloodthirsty and tyrannical (Sharon being the case in point), the fact of the matter is, given a choice, most modern-day Jews would rather be doctors, lawyers, artists, etc., than bloodthirsty little landgrabbers, and most Jewish mothers would like their sons and daughters to become professionals rather than suicide bombers.

I can understand why Jews wanted a land of their own after suffering through the Holocaust, but their choice of location could not have been more unfortunate. "Promised land" notwithstanding, they should have chosen a more hospitable piece of land and not thrown their children into the snake pit that is the Middle East. The questions Israelis need to ask themselves is whether they are any safer than they were in Europe and whether they think that the Arabs are a forgiving and generous lot. Based on their own realistic answers, they need to move forward.

Amar Venkatesh
UA alumnus

Fraternity boys have free will; they need to act like it

Has our society become so overprotective that we forget that people have free will? In yesterday's paper, the issue of hazing at the UA was discussed and a correlation between Animal House and hazing here at the university was made. While I completely agree that there should be laws, rules and regulations prohibiting hazing and providing consequences to those who haze, our university has gone too far. Kappa Sigma fraternity was put on probation for making pledges pick up sprinkles and making them clean. Where along the way have we forgotten that people (pledges) have the opportunity to walk out the door if they so please? I don't argue against sanctions for hazing to the degree of physical harm, such as the Sigma Chi incident where a pledge was forced in a freezer, but what harm does cleaning do to a person? I'm not saying that it's productive either, but when you mention forcing fraternity pledges to clean and then the incident in Illinois where girls had shit shoved in their faces, the former seems ridiculous. Protection is needed against forced alcohol consumption, physical harm and forced actions. But those investigating hazing should look at the fact that forcing someone to pick up sprinkles is not really forced at all; the pledge may walk up and leave at any time and so chose not to join that organization. Educate about hazing and the idea that one doesn't have to do it, but let a person have the chance to choose whether or not they would like to spend their night cleaning a fraternity house. A person has two choices: either do the activity required, like calisthenics and cleaning, or decide not to participate and end his desire to join the organization. Why should a group be reprimanded because a group of people chose to do something? The concern of hazing is understandable, but there should be guidelines concerning issues such as risk of physical harm or conducting illegal activities. We as a society and the university need to step back and make people become responsible for their own actions and stop making it everyone else's fault but the person who elected to follow the flock and do things like sorting split-cake sprinkles.

Treyer Mason-Gale
senior majoring in Spanish and history