Additional chapel option begins in the library

Depending on the day of the week, you can have up to five choices as to where you spend your mandatory chapel time.

Some of these options include Quiet Place Chapel, held on Thursdays in the Adams Recital Hall; Great Songs Chapel, held on Fridays in Judd Theatre; Missions Chapel, held on Wednesdays in Judd Theatre and Lang/Lit Chapel, held on Wednesdays on the second floor of the library.

Despite the plethora of options available for chapel credit, some students may not have found their niche yet.

Students are bombarded every day by technology, and with technology comes a whole other ballgame as to temptations and things people get caught up in on a regular basis.

Because of this, another option for a chapel credit launched last week.

“[Beam Chapel]is not focused on technology but the crossroads between information and theology,” Chris Rosser, head of the new chapel, said.

The Chapel is provided by Rosser and the librarians and is interested in not only technology itself, but how religion counteracts with technology.

With technology all around us, certain things that we didn’t have to worry about before now have become huge issues in today’s society.

Some of the problems that have risen to the forefront of technology within the last 20 years are gun violence in video games, pornography, online gambling and spending too much time attached to technology as a whole.

With these new obstacles set in our paths, some may find it hard to hold firm the ideals of theology and religion as a whole in order to stay strong in their faith.

That is what this new Beam chapel option hopes to accomplish. Beam chapel is not for just engineering majors or majors that are considered to be “technology oriented” or “nerdy.” The chapel is for anyone who likes technology and is also interested in social issues like ethics.

When asking the student body what they thought about the new chapel options, there were mixed reviews. A lot of students found that it would be a good place to learn about new technological feats.

“I would like to see what Beam library chapel is about,” Shannon Joyner, a senior biology major, said. “They might know or show something about some new electronics or devices that are coming out.”

While some were open and excited to the idea of the new Beam Chapel option, some were a tad leery and didn’t really see what the chapel itself was about or what it had outside of other options. Michelle Torres, a senior political science major, stated that she probably wouldn’t be attending the new chapel option.

“Technology itself is already too advanced,” Torres said. “I would like to keep some things the way they are.”

Technology is constantly bombarding students in increasingly creative ways. With the new Beam chapel option, technology is used to benefit the students attending.

A lot of students treat chapel as the only place that they have to calm down and have a quiet time for themselves, and if technology becomes mixed in, it could interfere with the purpose of chapel itself.

With the constant improvements in technology comes the need to use technological venues as an outlet for things such as personal evangelism, mission work and ways to provide knowledge not only to one’s self but to others in the community as well.

On top of all these reasons to attend the new Beam chapel, its convenient location might be another major factor in many students’ decision.

“Beam chapel is around 300 steps closer to the cafeteria than the chapel in the Garvey is currently,” Crosser said.

Beam Chapel is held every Wednesday on the third floor of the library at 11 a.m. If you have any comments or questions email Chris Rosser at chris.rosser@oc.edu.

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