April 19, 2007

a final tech post and other news

Abba John said to his brother, 'Even if we are entirely despised in the eyes of others, let us rejoice that we are honoured in the sight of God.'

Micah sent a link to Bishop Marc's blog. He has some fond memories of being at Tech. The ABC news wire has this article about the tragedy. Again, the students are struggling. This is the kind of thing that will stay with many of them for the rest of their lives. The school will need a great deal of help as it tries to recover from the trauma. Many of the wounds will not reveal themselves for years. Prayers are needed. Support is needed. I imagine Trish and I will make a pilgrimage at some point.
"The personal impact is deep and wide," said Sarah Ballew, a native of Blacksburg, whose father served as the Baptist campus minister at Virginia Tech for 26 years. She serves in China with her husband, Larry, as a mission worker of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

"Blacksburg is a small community of 40,000 people and 26,000 university students. Everyone is connecting with Virginia Tech somehow. This is devastating for everyone on the campus and in the community and for the many, many people who have connections to Virginia Tech."

This quotation is from the ABPress article. This pretty much sums it up. It is a huge school in a small city. It is the state school that many kids from rural communities go to...like the one I grew up in and the one Trish grew up in.

*Ryan at Everyday Faith posted this about VT. His youth group was deeply effected by what happened...one youth in particular.




In other news, the ABPress posted these two articles about the Supreme Court decision yesterday to uphold a ban on "partial birth" abortions.

In sweeping decision, divided court upholds 'partial-birth' abortion ban
In court's abortion decision, both sides see risk for Roe

And here we are again at the separation of church and state issue that Megan and I debated yesterday. Is this a church and state issue? Is it a domestic national security issue? Both? Neither? It's a tangled mess to be sure.

Posted by tripp at April 19, 2007 08:52 AM
Comments

You can't buy a VA Tech shirt in this town; totally sold out; everyone wearing one at some point; Tech flags are flying outside of residences; its quite something to behold; the VT community extends way beyond the campus.

Posted by: Mom at April 19, 2007 10:28 AM

It's a human-rights issue for the unborn; 'church and state' is nothing to do with it. (Your freedom ends where the baby's begins.) Just like there are laws against murdering the already born like what happened at Virginia Tech. Both kinds of killing violate the harm principle of libertarianism.

Posted by: The young fogey at April 19, 2007 11:20 AM

It's another attempt to control the bodies and sexuality of women.

Posted by: Megan at April 19, 2007 11:24 AM

Lest I hit the tar baby and then disappear for the rest of the day (which I'm about to do) --

In my opinion, a clump of cells is not a "baby" until it can live on its own.

But state-mandated vasectomies would be an excellent way to prevent abortions.

Posted by: Megan at April 19, 2007 11:30 AM

Oh, yes Megan, I agree about the vasectomies.
And if all these men making decisions about these laws had to have the second baby in their marriage, there would never be more than one child in a family....unless they got married twice....
Stuck in the tar-baby with you!

Posted by: IdaSusan at April 19, 2007 06:22 PM