IN DEFENSE OF WOFFORD’S RECENT CANDLELIGHT VIGIL—

As Wofford’s own Muslim Students Association (MSA) planned its candlelight vigil for the Chapel Hill students murdered only weeks ago, the group hoped to be spared misrepresentations of the vigil’s solemn nature. Nonetheless, as anyone who reads the posts of GoUpstate’s The Stroller knows, the aforementioned students received no such mercy.

To be specific, on Feb. 25, Lou Parris relayed the opinions of one “Gordon Summey of Spartanburg”: “The candlelight vigil Wofford College held for the three Muslims killed in North Carolina on Feb. 10 impressed Gordon Summey of Spartanburg, but he says it is unfortunate that the same wasn’t done for the 21 Christians recently beheaded by ISIS. ‘Is Wofford taking instructions about prayer and candlelight services from the Obama administration now?’ he wonders. ‘I am absolutely sickened by the hypocrisy.’”

Before addressing the most disturbing aspect of this address, it should be noted that for them to be considered hypocrites, the organizers of Wofford’s candlelight vigil would themselves have to be guilty of the hate that their vigil denounced. For this reason, Summey’s indictment borders on slander; it latently implies that the MSA organizers are perpetrators of hate crimes in the vein of religious violence. Undoubtedly, such an implication was not intended on Mr. Summey’s part; nonetheless, Muslim society is victim to enough misrepresentation without Mr. Summey’s inattentive partisanship.

Still, this concern is arguably peripheral. Rather, the most disturbing aspect of Mr. Summey’s comment is not the logical invalidity and recklessness of his accusation, but his insensitivity to the candlelight vigil’s nature, a nature that transcends religion, politics and culture: bereavement.

Traditionally, candlelight vigils seek to both lament and educate; Wofford’s vigil in honor of the deceased Chapel Hill Students did not depart from this tradition. No blame was cast, no criticism hurled. Wofford’s candlelight vigil was a sacred event in which followers of all beliefs had the opportunity to mourn both the death of three individuals and the persistence of the hate that very well may have attributed to their deaths (to wholly dismiss this possibility is nothing less than willful ignorance). Such hate does exist, such hate does lead to deaths of followers of all religions every day (including the Coptic Egyptians Mr. Summey chose to highlight), and MSA’s recent candlelight vigil denounced such hate and all its manifestations. Summey’s comments detracted from this dialogue – distracted us from this dialogue.

Of course, Summey would shy from suggesting that the vigil not be held, that the deaths of these three students be ignored. Indeed, Summey himself has contributed many sympathetic and sensitive arguments to The Stroller: most notably, his criticism of the shortsighted efficacy of the justice that South Carolina courts afford victims of spousal abuse. It is for this reason that his insensitivity to the nature of the vigil comes as a surprise.

Mr. Summey, I ask you to ask yourself why the mourning of three individuals bothers you, to ask yourself what the origin of your fear is. If it is that the Wofford Christian community did not organize a vigil in honor of the 21 Coptic Egyptians martyred by ISIS not long ago, I suggest that you direct your frustration to Wofford’s Christians (myself included). But before you do, I suggest that you recall what it means to be a hypocrite.

by Olin Ballentine ‘14

Olin Ballentine ’14 is currently getting his master’s in Business Analytics at Appalachian State University.