Christianity Merits Equal Standing in Free Market of Ideas

I found the letter by Jonathan J. Finer '98 in Saturday's Crimson ("Winthrop Show Front for Christ," April 12) somewhat disappointing.

At issue is the fact that the preconcert publicity neglected to mention that the Living Stones are a Christian rock band. Perhaps the tone of his letter would have been quite different if instead the Living Stones had decided to push environment issues, battered women's awareness, or a multicultural student center.

He wanted "to hear music, not to be preached to." Is it a gross understatement to say that most music carries with it a message of some sort? Kurt Cobain had his anthem of angst and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony carries the message of hope, brotherhood and unity of mankind. Mike Macintosh, the lead singer, had an important message, something important to integrate into his band's music.

Cypress Hill touts the Almighty Blunt, the Living Stones tout the Almighty God. It is not clear to me what makes their message any more dangerous to share.

Moreover, their message did not strike me as preachy in tone. Macintosh did continually stress our responsibility to make the most of our experience at Harvard and the gifts we have.

But I hear the same message at Commencement, and yet I do not greet it with apprehension. It is true, however, that the concert had different aims than would a Commencement speech; Christianity was broached, as Finer correctly points out, and in all likelihood that was the point of the staging of the concert.

Perhaps Finer did not object to the "preaching" religious nature of the event, but instead found questionable that the Living Stones "covertly" sprung the message of the Christian Gospel on "a potentially unsuspecting audience." This implicitly singles out Christianity in the free marketplace of ideas as an idea that should given a warning label exante.

I question such a view. I do not begin every conversation with a prestatement of my creed of beliefs on the environment, civil rights, and economic policy.

If I do not do so and then proceed to bring up such topics later during the same conversation, am I open to the charge that I have somehow been misleading or deceptive from the start? --Alexander Tsai '98