It�s true. If there was ever anyone who liked a good church service, it�s me. I love hymn singing, sound preaching, Bible-driven services, and lots of corporate praying. A good church should be a glimpse of heaven, I believe. That�s why I love the one that I attend so much.

So you would think that I would have no problem with LC�s chapel policy. Well, I probably wouldn�t, if it were an actual chapel service, but it�s not. Generally speaking, there�s either a mediocre speaker or an undistinguishable praise band. Occasionally, the �service� will rise above the norm (I was pleasantly surprised to use the hymnal during the Founder�s Day program), but on the whole it�s just boring.

I would attend occasionally, but I would not be a weekly devotee to chapel if it were not required of me (technically, it�s not required of me every week, but I�m somehow deficient on chapel credits, so I have to go to make it up already). I�m looking forward to the Compassion International chapel, and I would have attended the Ten Mile Drive chapel anyway, but on a whole it is not what I would call a constructive use of my time. I�ve been known to take my computer to the Guinn Auditorium and write during chapel (in fact, I wrote what was the genesis of my article Scalded or Frostbitten in chapel).

My point? I don�t buy this propaganda about spiritual growth through the chapel program. Only about a quarter of the crowd participates in the �spiritual chapels� anyway; a majority of the people in there are doing their homework. I guess that the school does it so that they can maintain their recruiting premise of having a �spiritual atmosphere.� There isn�t a more spiritual atmosphere at this school than at any of the public universities; we only like to think so because the school is controlled by the Louisiana Baptist Convention (now that I think about it, that�s probably the reason that chapel is required in the first place, to placate the convention).

Chapel isn�t church. It isn�t even close. I go to church because I need to, want to and am biblically obligated to; I attend chapel, not out of spiritual thirst or interest in cultural amelioration, but because I want to graduate on time without having to write a lot of spiritual credit essays. If I wanted to hear a praise band sing the same worn out choruses over and over, I would attend the services put on by the BCM.

Cultural credit requirements irk me. I love to go to art museums or listen attend a symphonic concerts; I will attend plays and recitals of my own volition. I do not need my school to require it of me. I like acquiring culture; if it tells you anything, last night I listened to Faure�s Requiem, Opus 14, Sanctus three times. However, I don�t think that those who wish to remain ignorant should have culture pushed down their throats until they gag. I hate having a football player with no interest in Saint-Saens sitting in front of me, commenting and horse playing during what would have been an enjoyable performance. No, I think that the chapel credit system should be overhauled entirely.