1980_10 The Daily Collegian October 1980

              THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
'Born Again'
and evolution
theories, debated
To the Editor (and to David N. Jones):
HI.Davldl  Here It Is in trie Collegian,
and you've been watching the Fresno
Bee for my reply to your letter of Oct. 2
entitled'atheism requires 'naive faith."
Well, Tom Kirwan, who does the let¬
ters column, told me that he does not
want to publish an exchange between
us, but Judy House, who holds parallel
responsibilities at the Collegian, feels
such an exchange would be healthy,
and of course it would be.
Let's trade letters in the
see ff the youth of Fresno State can
guess which one of us is corrupting them
and introducing false gods.
Fortl
of evolution by claiming that there
an more species than evolution could
ever produce, because evolution is a
., I'll
David*'.. . _
Bet on Sept. 12 .that the recent dis¬
coveries of science about the nature of
the universe, its creation and evolution,
undermine the basic belief of the
fundamentalists ("Bom-agaln" Christ¬
ians) In the literal truth of the Genesis
I asked which should public school
children be taught-that a supernatural
being created the world or that the earth
was created by natural forces released
by a natural event? And, I said if it is
true that natural forces, not supernatural
recessive genes, that almost all the
evidence for the evolution of life Is
circumstantial or non-existent, and that
is very important for everyone to know
that.
David's response to my letter began
by saying that God is natural, gravity
is most likely supernatural, and gravity
is proof of Cod's existence.
He then argued against the reality
answer such simple questions as why
elephants have trunks, why other large
land mannals survive without trunks,
and why giraffes have long necks.
David then listed his other (besides
gravity) proofs of Cod's reality: the
human sense of fair play and justice,
that a few economically backward Jews
wrote the Old Testament (David as¬
sumes this would have been impossible
without Devios Assistance), that a
working class man wrote John 14-17
(same assumption), and that the careers
of the Apostles can only be explained
by their having actually seen the
Risen Jesus. David concludes that
ft takes a great deal of naive faith to
believe that life evolved naturally.
It's hard to know just how to respond
to that.
And, Judy said to keep these letters
short, David. (She knows how you are.)
points. My American Heritage Diction¬
ary says that 'supernatural' means
existing outside the natural world,
expecialfy not attributable to natural
forces, but rather to the existence
of devine power.
'Natural* means produced by nature,
not man-made. And 'cultural* means
socially transmitted products of human
work and thought. These three defin¬
itions describe the only possible sources
of things. Things may be supernatural,
natural or cultural, and there is nothing
else for things to be.
But the historical and cross-cultural
evidence reveals that the supernatural
is actually only cultural. History and
anthropology show that, lacking an
adequate science, human beings Invent
supernatural beings to explain why
things happen.
That this is universal is dear to most
everyone except "born-again" Christians
in the case of their own religion. They
don't recognize their own religion as
begin cultural. They believe God
created human beings, not the other
way around.
And as for the biology questions:
Why do elephants have trunks? Because
their necks aren't long enough to do
them any good, David. How can all the
other large land mammals survive
without trunks? Because the others
have shorter legs. And why do giraffes
have long neck* Because their legs are
too long, and they don't have trunkal
Daily Collegian
I
Photo by Dave Nielsen
STAN SEIFERT RIDES HI8 BUCKING MACHINE
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CSUF rodeo pro
has champion goals
o the other, up snd
*r and faster than tl
The rider adjusts himself into the sad¬
dle. With a strong grip of his right hand,
he steadies himself into place. He raises
his left hand Into the air and gives the
" ly tossed from one
and down, bucked
the ride before.
At times he thinks he won't stay on, but
he does. And everytirne It feels great.
Because he knows he had a good ride.
He climbs out of the saddle, turns off
the mechanical bucking machine, and
walks away.
The Urban Cowboy? Not this time.
Many cowboys use bucking machines to
practice.
Stan Seifert Is one of those cowboys,
and this is the way he keeps in shape
Seifert Is a professional.
'Not too many people use the bucking
machine when they first start, but they
should. I didn't either though.* said
Seifert, who learned to ride bucking
horses the'hard way.*
Seifert is a sophomore at CSUF major¬
ing In agriculture-business. He owns his
own bucking machine snd keeps it on the
north side of the park In the CSUF farm
be which horse the rider draws.
Seifert competed In the California
Cowboy Association Professional Finals
last weekend in Turiock.
I just drew a regular horse that didn't
buck,'said Seifert.
Technically, rodeo season is over.
It will start again in April and Seifert
wants to be ready.
'I'm going to practice all winter.
I want to keep in training the whole time
lifting weights and riding my bucking
machine. I played all the sports In
high school and I treat rodeo just like
footbajl. And we had a winning football
With the dangers that rodeo brings,
why does this man like to do It?
"Well, I've asked myself that same
question, and I really don't know.
It's something that I like to do, but I'm
in it more for the money than for the
pleasure. I love to ride horses, but I
hate travel.*
Serfert's goal Is to one day be the •
best. He doesn't want to settle for any¬
thing less.
'I would like to someday be the cham¬
pion of the world, and go to the cham¬
pionship finals in Oklahoma,' said
Seffert.
next best thing,' said Seifert.
Seffert has also used his machine for
groups.
'One time I rented It to a high school.
They had fun, and I made some money. I
really don't like to move it that much
though. Not many of »he people here ride
It,'said Seifert.
Seifert has been In professional rodeo
competition for the past two years.
'I got hurt last June and haven't rid¬
den rodeo since. The horse made a funny
turn and it pulled my shoulder out. I'm
not really sure how It happened,' said
There Ls more to winning a rodeo than
Just skill. It also Involves luck.
"We have a drawing before each
rodeo. All of us pros draw out which
horse we will ride. I always just hope I
will be lucky snd draw good.
Like maybe I Ml draw out Captain Jack.
Seifert.
The bucking horses used in rodeos are
supplied by a stock contractor.  The dif¬
ference between winning and losing may
•I just can't do that right now. I have
too many other obligations.'
"I plan to use rodeo to help put me
through college. Professionals make
pretty good money, if you win. I can
make from $6-7,000 a year riding rodeo.
And that's Just working on weekends,'
said Seffert.
Seifert said he would like to ride in
rodeos for the rest of his life, but doesn't
seem to think he will.
'My parents have a big dairy in
Acampo. That's where I'm from. I may
work there one day,'said Seifert.
'I just can't imagine ever quitting
rodeo. It all depends on how long you
can go without getting hurt. Hell, I
might just fall and break my neck tomor¬
row and that would be the end of It. I
hope not. I can't see myself doing any¬
thing else.'
The Urban Cowboy? No way. This
cowboy Is for real. And who knows, may¬
be one day he will be the champion of the
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