Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfman
Randy-
Yes, I did answer your question without any remainder. Let me pose a couple of questions to you: Are you Greek? And why is this information important to you?
If you are Greek and you are member of a secret fraternity and respect and value the sacred oaths you've taken, you would not even consider asking me to discuss the Ritual of my Fraternity, and in a public forum at that.
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Yes, I am Greek. I'm trying to research issues regarding the elimination of christian-only requirements in Greek Letter Organizations. As far as I knew, they had all been eliminated by 1970, but my previous research had been in the NIC. And while some of the NPHC fraternities were themselves originally limited to only African-Americans, I haven't seen anything indicating a specific religious requirement at any time in any of the NPHC fraternities or sororities.
As opposed to the racial requirements which would be unlikely to have a component in the ritual, a religious requirement can easily represent and correspond to a component of the ritual. Having no mention of religious requirement in the by-laws is one thing, but if the oath in the brotherhood ritual is done in the name of Jesus Christ or if John 3:16 has a significant place in the ritual, that would go a long way to making the group de facto Christian. Matthew 22:21 (Render unto Caesar...) or Romans 12:21 (Overcome Evil with Good), OTOH, while still New Testament verses that might have ritual meaning to a fraternity, probably would not cause the same de facto religious requirement.
I thought that
"I *very* much understand if you don't think it appropriate to answer my followup questions."
represented a sufficient caveat prior to a question that while I would be willing to answer myself. Apparently not.
Note, In regards to a Christian heritage and ethos, the fact that the Omega Psi Phi International website sells a pin which has the letters on a Ichthys (also known as a "Jesus Fish"), definitely aligns with that. (
http://ecommerce.oppf.org/cgi-bin/ca...202&type=store)