William & Mary President Gets Crossed Up

Remember the Wren Cross Debacle where the President of William & Mary, Gene Nichol, attempted to remove a cross from the Wren Chapel. It gets better. Earlier this year, campus ministers received a letter from President Nichol who offered to come give a talk entitled “What does it mean to love God with your mind?”

Everyone was quickly informed that note-taking was forbidden. But a reporter from the Virginia Informer showed up anyway.

Nichol reminisced about his days as an altar boy, growing up in a devoutly Catholic family. President Nichol continued that he considered himself so religiously inclined that he wanted to be a priest for some time. He, however, is no longer a practicing Catholic. He got into Eastern religions for a while and now attends an Episcopal Church.

Then he stepped into it:

Mr. Nichol shared his personal opinion that the Ten Commandments should not be posted in public buildings. Instead, Mr. Nichol stated, if anything, the Sermon on the Mount should be displayed.

He refers to the Sermon on the Mount as “the most beautiful, moving speech of all time.” Reading to the audience a passage from the Bible, Mr. Nichol pointed out how much he liked the New Testament orientation of the story, and found his political opponents to characterize the “Old Testament” way of thinking.

Is he suggesting that Jews who read the Old Testament are bad? I doubt it. We all know what he’s saying: Christians with standards are bad.

But all in all we must acknowledge this attachment to the New Testament is a very odd statement from the guy who attempted to remove the cross -which happens to be the culmination of the entire New Testament. Maybe Mr. Nichols hasn’t thought all this through very well.