ROVINE | Reflections on an Unusual Passover

In a world afflicted by plagues and devoid of autonomy, the ancient Israelites enslaved in Egypt longed for little more than fundamental safety and freedom from suffering. Today, whether you have lost your job, feel unsafe in your home or are eating Matzah of your own volition, your pain is also valid. What makes this Passover different from all other Passovers? For one, many seders have saved a seat for a special new guest (and no, I’m not talking about Elijah). This year, Zoom joined the party, enabling extended families to safely come together from across the street or across the globe.

Hindu Student Council Fights For a Chaplain of Their Own

Currently, HSC is one of the only student religious organizations that shoulders the dual role of serving as both an entirely student-run organization and a provider of spiritual and religious care to Cornellians and Ithacans alike, according to Piragash Swargaloganathan ’19, who has helped spearhead HSC’s efforts to establish a chaplaincy.

CHANG | Make Cornell More Inclusive for Christians

Here’s the lowdown: I’m a Christian, and I think Cornell should be more open to religion — specifically Christianity. Although I’d grown up going to church (sort of — because my dad was never interested), it wasn’t until my senior year in high school that I began to develop my personal faith. In the midst of college applications and a long list of rejections, I felt a deep-seated inadequacy that I couldn’t solve by myself. Through a series of conversations with Christian friends that I’d had since elementary school and a long period of soul-searching and Bible-reading, I realized that my faith was something that was incredibly important to me. More importantly, I realized I wanted to remain a Christian in college.

WANG | On Buttigieg and the Religious Left

Normally, Christianity and liberalism don’t blend well in this country, if at all. But in one of the oddest interviews in my recent memory, a Cornell alumnus and a green mayor from South Bend, Ind. engaged in a whole new debacle on the issue. On one side was the casually smug Bill Maher ’78 hosting an episode of the Bill Maher Show on HBO, and on the other was the newest rising star of the Democratic party Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Boot-Edge-Edge), dressed in a toned down outfit that gave the vibe of suburban dad getting off from work more than presidential hopeful. Buttigieg’s resume has landed him on voters’ radar — Harvard educated, Rhodes Scholar, Afghanistan veteran, speaker of seven languages and mayor of a rebounding Midwestern city — but it’s his down to earth demeanor, wide smile and most importantly, a laser-like ability to lay out his thoughts that has had him surging in recent polls.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Re: ‘One Nation Under God’

To the Editor:

When I read Michael Johns, Jr.’s column, I was both hurt and disappointed. Hurt by the implication that I — as an atheist — lack a proper moral framework, and disappointed that in the 21st century there are still those who cling to the belief that organized religion is a necessity for people to have morals. I do not feel a need, as an atheist, to attack the moral foundations of others, and I am quite confident in my morals and what I choose to believe. I do not feel a need to become religious, and yet some will continue to insist that I am, somehow, lost. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut ’44, “I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead.” I may not hold the fear of God in my heart, but I am perfectly capable as a human of formulating and understanding my own morals.