by Janice Ng | Mar 29, 2013 | News Slider
The horrific rape and murder of a young woman last December in New Delhi sparked conversations and protests in favor of the rights of women globally. Lipscomb’s international students are in unique positions to examine women’s rights in the United States versus the rights in their homelands. Samha Siddiqui, a junior from Pakistan, said there is little similarity between what she experiences here as opposed to the experiences of women in her homeland. “In comparison to the U.S. where almost all women have protected rights, in Pakistan, especially in rural areas, even if they do have rights (and) even if the government does grant them, they are not protected,” she said. However, Siddiqui pointed out that Pakistan already had its first female prime minister. Benazir Bhutto took office in 1988 and was re-elected in 1993. Bhutto later was assassinated in 2007 after returning from years of exile to once again seek the nation’s top office. “Women do have rights that protect their opportunities for getting jobs in all kinds of fields, be it educational institutes, or banking or maybe the political offices,” Siddiqui said. Pipe Del Basto, a freshman from Colombia, provided a historical background on the escalation of feminism there. “A movement called feminism has been rising since before World War I, with women asking for the right to vote, the right to participate in politics, to get involved in public life,” Del Basto said. “When World War I came around, feminism took place, and, well, first of all, you have to understand what feminism is. Feminism is where they wanted the equality between genders. They didn’t want...
by Janice Ng | Mar 7, 2013 | News Slider
Lipscomb faculty and students are not shy about stating their opinions when it comes to the long-standing debate over faith and science. For the most part, they don’t say one side prevails over the other and agree that faith in God actually aids in the understanding of science. David McNutt, a biology major from Nashville, Tenn., is one student who believes there is a way to advocate both faith and science at the same time. “I think that there is an equal playing field,” McNutt said. “There are a lot of people who think one has to work without the other. I think that Christians can believe that science is ever-changing. A lot of things point towards evolution, but Christians can believe that there is a natural process that takes place, at the same time believing that God is completely in control.” Shivali Kanal, a biology major from Franklin, Tenn., draws a line between the two topics, describing faith as a way of life, and science as something current and ever-changing. “I think faith and science can sometimes get in the way of each other,” Kanal said. “For example, embryonic stem cell research is a huge issue today, and many people believe it’s not morally O.K. to kill embryos to get the embryonic stem cells and develop them into cells that can treat diseases such as cancer and heart diseases. “That’s a huge controversy. We could either save lives of diseased people right now, or save future lives. It has a lot of moral aspects to it, so that gets in the way.” Paul Justice, a physics major from Bowling Green,...
