'Sam' event draws notice of campus
Amanda Altschuler & Caitlin Varley
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Front Page
Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) headed up the much-publicized "Do you agree with Sam" campaign this week, culminating in a CCC outreach event Thursday evening.
The event centered around Sam Leopold, a Miami University junior.
The two-week spiritual outreach began last week as CCC members papered Miami's campus with posters, table tents, and banners and launched the Web site www.doyouagreewithsam.com.
On Monday, around 250 people on campus began wearing blue and white shirts with the message "I agree with Sam," according to April Cook, a 2007 Miami graduate working full time for CCC.
The identity of Sam was revealed in an advertisement in The Miami Student Tuesday.
"The goal is to show God's love through my story and show what Christianity is, but I'm just one of so many stories of God working in people's lives," Leopold said.
Leopold said he knew going into the campaign that it might stir up controversy among students.
"People don't always agree with the statement that Jesus Christ is the only way to know God," Leopold said. "It is a very controversial statement and I want to give people the chance to respond to that. It's not about me forcing people to believe something. I don't know what kind of life that would be, living a life believing something people have forced upon you. I can only state what I know to be true and live that out to the best of my ability."
First-year Heather Weaver said she created an alternate Facebook.com group called "Do you agree with Heather?" after she received negative response to her posts on the "Do you agree with Sam? Post why or why not!" group.
"They were more interested in stating that their belief is the only correct one rather than listening to someone who doesn't believe exactly what they believe," Weaver said.
Weaver said that while the beliefs of the "I Am Sam" campaign is correct for some people, it is not correct for everyone.
"Truth isn't absolute, it's individual," Weaver said. "Everyone's one truth is different, it's personal."
The event centered around Sam Leopold, a Miami University junior.
The two-week spiritual outreach began last week as CCC members papered Miami's campus with posters, table tents, and banners and launched the Web site www.doyouagreewithsam.com.
On Monday, around 250 people on campus began wearing blue and white shirts with the message "I agree with Sam," according to April Cook, a 2007 Miami graduate working full time for CCC.
The identity of Sam was revealed in an advertisement in The Miami Student Tuesday.
"The goal is to show God's love through my story and show what Christianity is, but I'm just one of so many stories of God working in people's lives," Leopold said.
Leopold said he knew going into the campaign that it might stir up controversy among students.
"People don't always agree with the statement that Jesus Christ is the only way to know God," Leopold said. "It is a very controversial statement and I want to give people the chance to respond to that. It's not about me forcing people to believe something. I don't know what kind of life that would be, living a life believing something people have forced upon you. I can only state what I know to be true and live that out to the best of my ability."
First-year Heather Weaver said she created an alternate Facebook.com group called "Do you agree with Heather?" after she received negative response to her posts on the "Do you agree with Sam? Post why or why not!" group.
"They were more interested in stating that their belief is the only correct one rather than listening to someone who doesn't believe exactly what they believe," Weaver said.
Weaver said that while the beliefs of the "I Am Sam" campaign is correct for some people, it is not correct for everyone.
"Truth isn't absolute, it's individual," Weaver said. "Everyone's one truth is different, it's personal."
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 6
Carl
posted 4/20/08 @ 8:01 PM EST
I am an alumni who casually keeps up with events through the e-mail edition of The Miami Student. As such I have no knowledge of the "Sam" campaign or the actual program that took place. (Continued…)
Whitney
posted 4/21/08 @ 5:02 AM EST
Truth is completely subjective.
Objectivity is entirely fabricated by people with authority in a particular region. Like white Christian men in the United States. (Continued…)
alwayzaskeptik
Larry
posted 4/21/08 @ 12:20 PM EST
Do I agree with Sam? Yes. Sam Harris.
Ayanna
posted 9/25/08 @ 11:26 PM EST
There's a reason we refer to "leaps of faith" - because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational. (Continued…)
Stephen Bynum
posted 1/21/10 @ 8:28 PM EST
i agree with Sam and completely disagree with Heather. Truth is not a personal thing, it's absolute. for example i could believe that french fries are onion rings, but that doesn't make potatoes any more onions. (Continued…)
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