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.