<p>consecrated: to make or declare sacred (dictionary.com).</p>
<p>It is not a synagogue or mosque but a consecrated Christian chapel, and therefore it follows that a cross is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of the building, whether it’s been there 70-odd years or 200-odd.</p>
<p>Anyone who is so intolerant as to be offended or indeed *horrified<a href=“such%20as%20the%20music%20moms”>/i</a> at the sight of an 18 inch cross may ask to have it removed prior to their entry into the chapel.</p>
<p>I didn’t even care about this thread when is was first posted (I thought–what’s the big deal?), but as I’ve read the antipathy expressed by some posters here, I’m signing on to the savethecross petition (and they don’t even ask my political affiliation, so even as a registered Republican I’m allowed a vote!).</p>
<p>“It is not a synagogue or mosque but a consecrated Christian chapel, and therefore it follows that a cross is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of the building, whether it’s been there 70-odd years or 200-odd.”</p>
<p>Why? if the folks who built it and worshipped in it specifically did NOT have a cross in it? (that was not meant rhetorically, it is a real question. It is kind of like attributing Christian attitudes to the “founding fathers” who had very different attitudes in 1776 (generally deist/pantheist), 1789 (rabidly anti-church involvement), and 1805 (after the Christian religious revival.) I don’t see that it follows at all.</p>
Got it.<br>
“People can ask for the cross to be removed” = “alert to non-Christian sensibilities”.<br>
“People can be asked that the cross be put on display if they want it” = Cause for outrage.</p>
<p>It’s a cross, which the Christian architects, founders, benefactors, and worshippers of the Wren Chapel specifically rejected from having inside.</p>
<p>So don’t look at it if it offends you so much, or pray outdoors. The OP had it right: only intolerant people would be offended by an 18" Christian cross. Personally, I could close my eyes and pray in a mosque, a synagogue or a Buddhist temple. I know to whom I am praying in my heart. You are wrong, people.</p>
<p>Yep. Would-be ayahtollahs come in all creeds, denominations, and flavors.</p>
<p>As a Christian, I’m more embarrassed by the excesses of those who at least nominally share my faith.</p>
<p>And to lob Mini a softball, I seem to recall that someone once asked Gandhi what he thought of Christianity and he replied to the effect that it was a great religion and somebody should try practicing it.</p>
<p>P.S. Not only is one enjoined to pray in the privacy of one’s closet, a reasonable examination of doctrine extends to letting others use one’s closet for the same purpose too.</p>
<p>Right. So why would it be placed in a common-use room that was once a church (edit: errr. chapel)? hereshoping, can you actually present a rational argument as to why it should be there?</p>
<p>hh wants the chapel to be a church…and change its function…</p>
<p>a drawing card for many schools is its inclusiveness and part of that is the fascilities</p>
<p>this has nothing to do with a metal cross, which isn’t that exciting to look at anyway, it is about raising money, pulling that “fighting christianity” garbage, and some people who have such little real faith, that they need to be reminded of it when they walk into a building that is meant for all to enjoy</p>
<p>a true person of faith wouldn’t need the cross, and a true Christian would want to be sure an not hurt ithers, part of Jesus’s teachings</p>
<p>Wishing the chapel to feel welcoming to nonChristians and nonbelievers does not translate into intolerance for Christianity or Christian symbols overall. The cross does not offend as much as its presence, particularly during a nonreligious campus function, distracts and discomforts some people. Nichol’s policy takes those people’s feelings into consideration. You want to ignore those feelings and that pov, that’s your right. But you’re wrong and so is the OP and the right-wing campaign behind savethewrencross, IMO.</p>
<p>momfromme - W&M only became a public university in the 20th century. The Chapel dates back long before that. It is a historic structure and historically a Christian Church. I am an Irish catholc and have more reason to hate those two rat… Protestant Orangemen the school is named after than you do After all it was my people and my co-religionists who were the special target of wrath for the builders of that church. But we can’t change history nor should we really want to bury it in a closet.</p>
<p>Did the Church of England fund the construction of all W&M buildings up to the switchover to a public university? Did the Commonwealth of Virginia pay the Anglican Church for the buildings? Was there a clause in the gift of the chapel?</p>
<p>I guess I should know this since I fund this school as a VA taxpayer, but I don’t. Does anyone know the answers?</p>
<p>Therefore, if food causes my brothr to stumble, I will never eat meat again, tht I might not cause my brother to stumble.-1 Cor. 8:11</p>
<p>I am sure that if Jesus or Paul were aware that any symbol created an unwelcoming atmosphere for any person in a place of worship, they would be the first to have that symbol removed. Peter? Ehh? He was one to sometimes act before putting his mind into gear. An endearing trait for sure but one leading to a biblical oops.</p>
<p>And mini is correct. If the original builders of the Wren Chapel wanted to create a Christian worship space they had ample opportunity to encorporate the many Christian symbols into the building itself.</p>
After all it was my people and my co-religionists who were the special target of wrath for the builders of that church. But we can’t change history nor should we really want to bury it in a closet.</p>