Mr. Baumgardner’s column Thursday stressed the importance of a candidate who “embraces Christianity, particularly Catholicism in its entirety, and extends those beliefs to his campaign.”

Not everyone wants a candidate who will use his political power to further his own religious values, particularly in their entirety. Some of us still believe in the separation in church and state. Why should I have to live up to another person’s so-called moral standard when I disagree with such morals?

I DO support stem-cell research, I DO support same-sex marriage and I DO support abortion. You could say I “reject the church’s teaching on the more controversial issues,” but I don’t follow the church.

And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. In the future, stay away from terms like “unequivocally condemned” when referring to people like me. Thanks!

Emma Hiatt

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Unlike the end of last season, the Badgers’ recent performance left little to be desired. So instead, let me rant about the other components that make Badger games what they are.

First, what’s with our band now? No “Swingtown” and only one “Hey Song” toward the end of the game. If the administration truly thinks “Swingtown” is the primary thing that starts the student section swearing at each other, they only need to look to this past Saturday to see how untrue that is.

Listen, we’re going to do it either way. Don’t rob the students of a traditional cheer that has been done for years. In case anyone forgot, when the student section really gets pumped up the team feeds off it, as was the case in the Ohio State game last year.

Second, someone needs to tell the scoreboard operator that during a replay review he might want to, oh I don’t know, show the darn replay! As interesting as it is to watch the players standing around on our great new high definition screens during the reviews, it might be even more exciting to see the play that is causing the review more than one time right after the play is finished.

Third, what happened to our fan creativity? Just like anyone else, I enjoy a good vulgar cheer every now and then, but let’s not forgot some of our other cheers. Only once did I hear a small part of section P singing one. And I didn’t hear any Central Florida-specific cheers at all.

I think our fans did a good job rolling out the red carpet, but that doesn’t mean we have to roll over when it comes to some of our favorite traditions.

Alex Gore

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