In response to Tim Waddingham's opinion article on Tuesday, I am absolutely outraged. I've tried to ignore the liberal agenda of the Collegian but cannot ignore this ridiculous misconception that Mr. Waddington is trying to create. I am a Christian and that is why I am a conservative. I believe in defending the unborn, defending the freedom of all people and justice. It is obvious that Mr. Waddingham is not a Christian himself, and does not understand what Christians stand for. He can only name call and ignorantly stereotype.

A perfect example of this ignorance is the view that Christians would not support the war in Iraq. As a Christian soon to commission in the United States Air Force, I can tell you that many do support the war. Christians believe in the importance of freedom for all people, not just Americans. This is because God supports just wars and equal opportunity for all. I know that Mr. Waddington is just trying to get a response, but claiming that conservatives "like to kill thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians" is disgusting and sad. I can only be comforted by the fact that Mr. Waddingham will never have the courage or convictions to join the armed services of America.

I would also like to ask if Mr. Waddingham has ever truly researched where many of the donations to Hurricane Katrina victims or the poor come from. There is no question that liberals would like to donate and spend other people's money, but do they donate themselves? I will not stereotype liberals and say that they don't, but I know that many conservatives, both Christian and non, are quick to support those in need. Who do you think many of those Christians are that help the poor and victims of tragedies? I'm sorry to disappoint Mr. Waddingham, but many of them are conservatives.

Although it is politically acceptable to point fingers at one Christian (Pat Robertson) and stereotype the whole group, would Mr. Waddingham do the same to Muslims? I think he would "cringe" at the thought that Muslims would be viewed as American hating terrorists that are all like Osama Bin Laden. Or if we judged all Muslims, considering the fact that 19 out of the top 25 terrorist organizations on the U.S. State Department List are Islamic.

Not every Christian is a conservative or vice versa, but Christian values do coincide with many conservative views. Mr. Waddingham is either blinded by hatred and bigotry, or is simply too ignorant to understand this.

Michael Pacini

Senior, Electrical Engineering

As a Christian conservative, I would like to point out some of the misconceptions in the column by Tim Waddingham.

First of all, "separation of church and state" is NOT in the Constitution. Only making a "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" is forbidden to Congress. But the current situation seems to be prohibiting just that, at least where the Christian faith is concerned.

Secondly, a Christian who does not practice Christianity in ALL aspects of her life, including politics, is a hypocrite.

Third, I agree that the Katrina relief effort was a dismal failure. But it isn't as if the administration purposely did nothing so as to send thousands to their deaths. It was poorly handled, to be sure, but it's reading a bit much into the situation to claim that it makes anyone "unchristian" to be a conservative because of it.

The welfare issue also is widely misunderstood. Of course we should help those in need. What conservatives have a problem with is abuse of the system, not use of it. And the church should contribute to the system, cutting back on the need for government intervention.

There is no contradiction in being a Christian conservative. It all depends on what a conservative and a Christian really is, and it is obvious that Mr. Waddingham knows neither. I pray that he has the courage to find the truth.

Brittany Dowdy

Sophomore

English major

I first would like to commend Tim for finally saying what many of us so-called "evil liberals" have always wanted to say.

Personally, I have always been curious as to why Christians believe it is okay to kill innocent people.

Secondly, I think his article was important because not only did it put forward a discussion that most good "non-Christian" people have discussed, but it also received two letters to the editor by Kevin Curry and Reaghan Endres who openly admit that they also believe killing for "other reasons" is okay by them and Christians, because the BIBLE says you can.

Very well done, Tim! It is nice to see that if you catch the Christian or conservative right off guard, they will attempt to defend themselves with the BIBLE, the only real thing that can save them anyway.

Chrissina Burke

graduate student, anthropology

Mr. Waddingham thinks that conservatives don't care about the poor, while President Bush, a conservative, has spent over $100 billion more on poverty entitlements over the last five years than President Clinton did in his entire presidency.

The poverty rate during Clinton's halfway point was 13.7 percent. It's at 12.7 percent at the start of Bush's second term. Federal Revenue for social welfare programs in 2004 alone was greater than in any year under Clinton.

And let's not forget his ridiculous statements of so called non-conservative Christians. Ken Mehlman, the leader of the GOP National Committee, is a Jew. As is Dennis Prager, David Horowitz, Sen. Norm Coleman and a number of other prominent Republicans. So Mr. Waddingham's bit that it's rare for a non-Christian conservative to exist is also a bunch of ideological bologna.

To the editors of the Collegian, I ask you to print opinion articles based on some kind of truth!

Rob Drost

sophomore

history

Crystal Korrey, my good friend at CSU, tipped me off yesterday to Tim Waddingham atrocious Wednesday column. As a fellow college columnist for The Hoya, Georgetown University's student newspaper, I am professionally embarrassed for Waddingham, whose incoherent ramblings appeared to be on-par with an elementary school student incapable of successfully completing a game of connect the dots.

While I hate to remind anyone of the specific contents of Waddingham's column, as a Christian conservative, I feel obligated to enlighten the author by addressing his inane questions.

Waddingham begins what I hesitate to call an argument by attempting to invalidate hundreds of years of just war theory with three sentences. Had the author been writing 60 years ago, he apparently would have condemned the killing of Nazis, because, all the way over in Europe, Germany arguably did not pose any threat to us whatsoever.

Waddingham then hypocritically follows his misunderstood glorification of the separation of church and state by demanding to know why Christian conservatives don't force their beliefs on

the public through massive government entitlement programs. Christian conservatives support private charity, because unlike you, Mr. Waddingham, we do not confuse Jesus with Robin Hood.

Finally, while vaguely attempting to pin the blame for the botched Hurricane Katrina effort on Christian conservatives, the author has evidently forgotten that the elected officials involved in Louisiana are overwhelmingly Democrats.

If Waddingham would like to use the unfortunate disaster to teach a lesson about public behavior, then he should take a page from Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. Honore commandeered a press conference given by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday and chastised a reporter by saying, 'You are stuck on stupid.'

I offer the same words of wisdom to Mr. Waddingham.

Eric Rodawig,

Columnist, The Hoya

Georgetown University

I was absolutely amazed after reading Kevin Curry's letter to the editor in Thursday's Collegian. Did Mr. Curry read the same "Christian Conservative Contradiction," written by Tim Waddingham that I did?

I hope everyone who read the article didn't completely miss the point, as Mr. Curry did. Mr. Curry states, "And it is purely ignorant to say a person should not allow their religious background to help them determine their opinions on public matters." Huh? What?

Mr. Waddingham was simply pointing out that it seems as though Christians are supporting anti-Christian, conservative policies and he gave several examples to support his claim. He did, however, forget to include capital punishment.

Thank you Mr. Waddingham for bringing these points to the attention of those Christians who support anti-Christian, conservative ideologies. Hopefully some of these Christians may rethink whether or not some conservative ideologies really align, philosophically, with the core teachings of Christianity and see that they don't.

However, many Christians haven't acted as Christians throughout history so this isn't a new phenomenon. Though, it would be wonderful if these Christians would start following the teachings of Jesus Christ, rather than those who claim to be Christians (i.e., Pat Robertson, Anne Coulter, President Bush, etc.).

Brandon Lehman

Senior

engineering

P.S. If you still believe Iraq was a threat (Weapons of Mass Destruction), it is likely you've been in la la land, listening to too many "Christian" pundits in the mainstream media or scared to admit you were wrongfully convinced by the propaganda machine.