The Office of Faith and Service sponsors a variety of programs aimed at meeting the needs of our students. These offerings include guest speakers, discussion forums and movies. The presentations foster reflection on the great questions of life, integrating matters of spirituality with the wider range of human life, including such fields as economics and pop culture, art and music, psychology and philosophy, to name but a few. Here are some of the activities coming up:

The Civitas Forum:

Discussing the American Ideal

Monday, April 21, 2008, 4 – 5:15  On Immigration

Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 4 – 5:15  On the War in Iraq

Monday, April 28, 2008, 4 – 5:15  On Religion in Politics

In recent elections, Americans have witnessed bitterly contested debates about who we are, who we ought to be and what we ought to do to create a good society. The competing visions have divided homes, churches and communities, and the nation as a whole. Easily lost in the struggle for political power are the basic virtues which have long characterized the commitments of both the church and the academy – honest dialogue and mutual respect leading to the practical wisdom that shapes individuals and communities.

As one astute observer noted:

"At the beginning of the 21st century, reasoned discourse [is imperiled]. Reasoned discourse is increasingly giving way to in-your-face soundbytes….Hardball is the dominant metaphor for American public life. Our interchanges are confrontational, divisive, and dismissive. Truth is not something we expect to emerge from a conversation. It is something we hope to impose. Balance and fairness are casualties on evening shows as two, three, and sometimes four voices contend simultaneously for dominance. Volume and intransigence are the new civic virtues."

                                                            Ronald J. Kernaghan

Knowing that another election cycle is upon us, William Woods University would like to make its own small contribution toward the recovery of civility in public life. The aim of the Civitas Forum is to host speakers from a variety of political and ideological persuasions and moderate discussions between them. These town-hall style meetings will explore a variety of contemporary issues presently dividing our churches and communities. 

Sponsored by The Office of Faith and Service and The Department of Legal Studies

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Competent Enough to Die:

Capital Punishment and the Mentally Retarded

Dr. Thomas G. Walker

Thursday, April 24th, 4 – 5 pm

On June 20, 2002, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Atkins v. Virginia, a landmark ruling in the Court’s capital punishment jurisprudence.  The appeal presented the question of whether the Constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment is violated when a state executes a convicted murderer who suffers from mental retardation.

The case had its origins on a summer evening in 1996 when eighteen year old Daryl Atkins and his friend William Jones robbed an innocent young airman in an attempt to obtain beer money.  Later that night, the body of their victim, Eric Nesbitt, was found on a rural country road, his corpse riddled by eight bullet wounds.  After a successful police investigation, prosecutors obtained the convictions of both Jones and Atkins.  Jones was sentenced to life in prison; Atkins, the man who fired the fatal shots, received the death penalty.  Lawyers for Atkins, however, appealed the sentence, arguing that his significantly subaverage intelligence levels reduced his culpability and made his execution constitutionally inappropriate.

The talk uses the Atkins case to examine the death penalty in America and the workings of the nation’s judicial system.  It traces the odyssey of Daryl Atkins from the day of the murder through his trial and ultimate appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.  The constitutional significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling and the ultimate fate of Daryl Atkins are also discussed.  (LEAD, 1 pt)

Dr. Thomas Walker is one of the leading constitutional scholars in America.  He has authored or coauthored ten books with Eligible for Execution scheduled for publication in late summer 2008.

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Reflecting on the American Dream

Scott Cairns, Poet

Tuesday, April 29th, 4 - 5 pm, Library Auditorium

One of America’s most famous poems is enshrined on America’s most famous statue. 

            “Give me your tired, your poor,

            Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

            The wretched refuse of your teeming shore

            tossed, to me:

            I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

            Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”

The words of the poet invite strangers into a land of opportunity and a quest for the American dream.  125 years after those words were written, what has become of the American dream?  To answer this question, we invite another poet to offer his reflections.

Tuesday, April 29th, Scott Cairns will speak on the idea of America, the relationship of poetry to politics and the role of the artist as a public citizen.