Katim,
Thanks for your response,well majority of us are against the idea of not
allowing religious posting on the -L..I know for a fact that we have
diversity in opinion and affiliations.Alot has been said and I think it is
time for you to readdress the issue,alot of maturity and discipline have
been applied from all list members for their responses to you.Well let make
a quick resolution,but remember consult other list managers for a positive
move for this task.Thanks to everybody for their contributions,let the
struggle continue.
Sariang.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Katim S. Touray [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 4:20 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Religious postings on Gambia-L
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Thanks so much for your responses to my last e-mail on religious postings
> on Gambia-L. I appreciate the time you all took to send in your
> comments. From all indications, the majority of us are of the opinion
> that we should allow religious postings on the list. In addition, the
> feeling I get is that many who wrote on the issue feel that my e-mail was
> rather crash, if not dictatorial.
>
> In response to all these opinions, I would like to begin by saying that
> the problem is all my fault. I should have preceeded my position with an
> explanation of the circumstances surrounding it. I did not do that, and
> in the process have given a lot of people genuine grounds for concern.
> Having said that, I will now give you a brief overview of the reasons for
> my e-mail, and hope that in the end, we will be able to move on.
>
> Those subscribers who were on the list when it was hosted at the Univ. of
> Washington (UW), Seattle, will recall that we had to move Gambia-L from
> there after Mr. Anthony Loum, under whose auspices the list was hosted by
> UW, was no longer comfortable with the list being hosted under his name.
> It was with luck that I was able to get St. John's University to host
> Gambia-L for us. I have been helping with managing the African
> Association of Madison mailing list, which St. John's has hosted since
> it's creation in Oct. 1997, and for this reason, was able to ask my
> contact at St. John's to help, and he agreed to.
>
> Gambia-L has been hosted on St. John's server since last May. For the
> benefit of those who don't know, St. John's is a Catholic university, in
> New York City, USA. You can access their Web site at
> <http://www.stjohns.edu/index-2.html> to get more information about the
> school. I suggest you read the "About" pages
> <http://www.stjohns.edu/about/> which detail information such as the
> university's Core Values, and Mission Statement. The Mission Statement,
> in particular, states that the University is Catholic committed to
> creating "a climate patterned on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ as
> embodied in the traditions and practices of the Roman Catholic Church."
> However, the Mission Statement continues:
>
> Our community, which comprises members of many faiths, strives for
> an openness which is "wholly directed to all that is true, all that
> deserves respect, all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous,
> or worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8). Thus, the university is a place
> where the church reflects upon itself and the world as it engages in
> dialogue with other religious traditions.
>
> It seems from the above that while St. John's takes their Catholic faith
> seriously, they are also open to a dialog with other beliefs. Be that as
> it may, I thought it prudent that since our list is hosted on their
> server, we will be advised to be sensitive to their beliefs, and refrain
> from using Gambia-L to engage in religious education of whatever form. I
> think this is a perfectly logical stand to take, especially because I
> don't think an Islamic group would allow their, say, mosque's public
> address system to be used to preach Christian sermons.
>
> Another issue that I think we should be aware of is the fact that we have
> many Christian (Gambian and non-Gambian) subscribers on the list. What
> would happen if we start trading more religious postings? Would we be
> reduced to a forum of religious strife and intolerance? And again, I
> thought it prudent that we should just refrain from out-right religious
> propaganda, in the interest of being sensitive to people who might not
> subscribe to our faiths.
>
> Some of you have suggested that given the existence of the DELETE button,
> it is a fairly simple matter to forget about postings one is not
> interested in, including those of a religious sort. While that sounds
> simple, it does not consider the fact that our postings are archived.
> That you've deleted a posting from your mailbox does not mean that it's
> dissappeared from our archives. The fact that you don't read a posting
> does not mean that it does not affect you in anyway, because each archived
> posting takes up space on St. John's server.
>
> For your information, the St. John's server has a disk capacity of 15 GB,
> and runs a total of about 700 mailing lists, out of which 546 are archived
> ( <http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SS1=MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>). The
> server delivers an average of about 600,000 (six hundred thousand)
> postings a DAY to and from some 241 THOUSAND subscribers. As you can
> imagine, the numbers can add up very fast. Thus, it would help for all of
> us to ensure that we do our best to ensure that we do not over-stretch the
> resources that St. John's provides to subscribers the world over.
>
> I also mentioned that other people have created mailing lists on
> various religious issues, including Islam. Thus, you can search for
> Islam-oriented groups at:
>
> <http://www.lsoft.com/lists/list_q.html>
>
> Type "islam" or "muslim" (without the quotes) in the search field, and
> press the "Start the search!" button to retrieve a list of lists with
> names, hosts, or titles (depending on what you chose) that might your
> criteria. And, if you like, you can also start your own group at either
> e-Groups ( <http://www.egroups.com>) or Topica ( <http://www.topica.com>).
>
> I would like to re-assure everyone that my decision on stopping religious
> postings on the list was motivated more by a desire not to abuse favors
> being accorded us by St. Johns. I will contact them on the matter, to get
> a categorical answer regarding what their policies are. In the event that
> they do not have any problems with people sending religious postings on
> our list, and such postings do not become an issue of concern to people of
> different religions (e.g. Christians worrying about Islamic postings, and
> vice versa), I will have no problems letting subscribers send in what they
> want assuming, of course, we have adequate diskspace.
>
> May I also add that the decision to put a stop to religious postings on
> Gambia-L was totally mine. For this reason, I would like to absolve other
> Gambia-L managers of any and all blame for whatever problems this might
> have caused. These Managers have always provided, and continue to provide
> a lot of help in the management of Gambia-L.
>
> Finally, I have to express my displeasure at the way which Hamjatta Kanteh
> attacked Jabou Joh about her postings on Gambia-L. I see no reason why
> Mr. Kanteh should have attacked Ms. Joh like that, and further, I would
> like to say that I wish Mr. Kanteh had allowed us to make up our minds
> about whether or not Ms. Joh is a hypocrite. Still on the issue of other
> comments on my posting, I'd like to say that Samba Goddard's reply totally
> cracked me up. I laughed my head off when I read his e-mail. Despite what
> you might think of my posting, Mr. Goddard, it was in good faith, and not
> meant to offend one religion or the other. God, I'm sure, will
> understand.
>
> Have a great week, and best wishes.
>
> Katim
>
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