In light of recent controversial events on campus, it’s incumbent upon us all to take as rational and objective a view as possible with compassion and respect in mind. However, as heartening as it is to see progressive steps taken in the direction of inclusiveness, both the chapel renovation and the subsequent Student Government event fell sadly short of that goal.

State-run institutions such as Wichita State have a responsibility to all students and employees to remember the importance of maintaining the separation between churches of all persuasions and the state, even if complete separation may or may not be possible or realistic. The only way to actually include everyone is to have zero presence of any specific religion in any events or buildings operated by the university.

The chapel’s very existence already blurs the line to a certain extent; the word “chapel” being most commonly associated with Christianity. Notice that of the other religious buildings that are near campus and serve WSU believers, none are technically associated with the university, even though one of them ostensibly shares the same city block. WSU cannot, by law, run those organizations or have much to do with them.

 For that reason, attempting to make the chapel (which is definitively part of the university) more inclusive also blurs the line of separation between church and state, particularly because it only attempts to include one other major religion.

There are well over 40,000 different versions of Christianity alone, many with their own unique accouterments for prayer and ritual, not to mention Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Baha’i, Judaism, people of no faith, etc., etc. Are we going to try to include all of them? Somehow, that doesn’t seem like a viable solution, either.

As a member of the growing category of the non-religious, I have to admit that I did not feel at all represented by either of these events. While I do happen to feel free to use the chapel if I want a quiet moment, I don’t feel especially welcome either.

Additionally, SGA led prayer session Friday, which seemed to have had the best of intentions, was entirely lacking in representation of non-religious views whatsoever. I can’t help but wonder how many other individuals on campus noticed this and felt excluded by what was supposed to be a community-building event. Again, I appreciate the effort, but since it wouldn’t have been possible to include those of every faith tradition, I question whether it should have happened at all.

Despite much misguided belief, ours is not a Christian nation. Not really. It’s supposed to be a secular nation whose majority religion happens to be Christianity.

This majority was much in evidence by the planned performance of both a Christian and a Catholic prayer at the SGA event, though they are both part of the same belief system. The much-touted (and misunderstood) founding fathers never wanted an official national religion because they understood the danger it presented. They may have been Christians personally, but they did not want their country to be Christian. That’s why they took pains to write about keeping religion separate from government and made sure the idea would endure beyond themselves.

Wichita State would do better by all of us to remember this idea. Of course, everyone who believes in and practices prayer in any form certainly has the right to pray when and where they want within reason, but that does not mean they have the right to expect their state university to provide accommodations for that prayer beyond that which can be used by anyone of any faith.

— Sheena Monroe, WSU alumna, ‘14