Christ Spectacle Wrong

To the Editor:

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to use this forum to address those individuals who orchestrated the “Christ on the Cross: Live in Wilder Bowl” spectacle last Friday. I, for one, thoroughly did not appreciate coming home from my Good Friday service (focal point: the death of Christ) only to witness a complete mockery of something which touches me on a very personal level. 
It bothers me that not everybody on our generally open-minded campus has even a rudimentary understanding of the importance of being discretionary with regards to the First Amendment. I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that people don’t have, or ought not to have the right to express themselves in such a manner. But while we vehemently defend our First Amendment rights, many of us also work to promote respect and tolerance among different factions of society, whether they be based on race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, national origin, handicapped status, etc.
In a higher institute of education, particularly one as historically open-minded as Oberlin, should it really be necessary to have to reiterate the importance of treating opposing viewpoints with basic respect?

–Tom Hoberg
College first-year