Dawkins' God Delusion Divorced American ... - Biola University

a 1941 movie starring
Gary Cooper, just
released on DVD. In
brief, York — a new
Christian who faced
the draft — wrestled
with God’s views on
killing. But the Army
didn’t let him register
as a conscientious objector.
He eventually
worked through his questions, with the help of
other Christians, and went on to perform one
of the most famous military feats in American
history. York always gave God the glory.
Before now, the battle site had never
been found. Also, some historians questioned
whether York’s written accounts had
been embellished. O’Keefe told Biola Connections
that he joined the team because of
his desire to vindicate York and his Christian
testimony.
“Among other artifacts, the one piece of
evidence that would convince the critics were
the .45 caliber shells from York’s automatic
pistol,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe joined the search in December
2005, and he and the team made 34 visits to the
Argonne Forest and spent almost 1,000 hours
searching the battlefield with metal detectors.
On Oct. 21, 2006, he and his friends — NATO
officer Doug Mastriano and his son, Josiah, and
retired military veteran Gary Martin — found
what are believed to be all 21 of the .45 caliber
shell casings that came from York’s Colt and four
of the bullets. (York was the only person known
to have fired a pistol in the battle.) Twenty yards
away, they found a trench used by the Germans,
.45 slugs, unexpended German rifle rounds and
“bits of gun belts and debris consistent with
soldiers surrendering,” according to the New
York Times article.
“It was God who made it possible for Alvin
York to do what he did 88 years ago, and it is God
who made it possible to find the evidence
needed to prove York’s testimony is accurate
and true,” O’Keefe said.
For more information on the discovery,
visit the team’s Web site at:
www.sgtyorkdiscovery.com. — Holly Pivec
BIOLA CONNECTIONS ❁ SPRING ’07 NEWS BRIEFS 09
John Thune
Appointed Chief Deputy Whip
On Dec. 6, Senator John Thune (’83) of
South Dakota was appointed by Senator
Trent Lott of Mississippi to serve as Chief
Deputy Whip in the Senate Republican
Whip organization for the 110th Congress. Lott
said, “In his first term in the Senate, John has
demonstrated outstanding leadership skills,
and I want to put his clout to work in
developing the whip strategy to get the votes
for our priorities.” On Jan. 10 — after
President Bush’s speech to the nation —
Thune was interviewed from Capitol Hill about
Bush’s revised Iraq War strategies on The
News Hour With Jim Lehrer (PBS). Thune said
he supported Bush’s decision to increase
troops, saying, “We have a window of opportunity
to get this right.”
Talbot Alumnus Wins Victory in the
‘Religious Language Debate’
Chad Vegas (M.A. ’04) —
a pastor in Bakersfield,
Calif., and member of the
Kern High School District’s
Board of Trustees
— recently led a successful
campaign that
changed the school district’s language from
“winter break” to “Christmas break” and
“spring break” to “Easter break.” On Dec. 21,
the board voted 4-1 to accept Vegas’ proposal,
going back to the district’s original religious
language that was changed in the late- 1980s.
“I don’t buy the secular atheist agenda that
we should expunge all religious dialogue from
the public forum,” Vegas told the Los Angeles
Times on Dec. 22. The school district represents
about 36,000 students.
Alumnus Turns Trial Into Testimony
CBS News and the Orange
County Register (Calif.), in
December, featured the
touching story of Biola graduate
Nathan Robertson (’05),
who received a kidney from
his father, Biola alumnus and employee Tim
Robertson (’74). In February 2006, 25-year-old
Nathan Robertson, of Aliso Viejo, was rushed to
the hospital with kidney failure, where doctors
discovered that he had been born with only one
kidney. For the next nine months, he underwent
dialysis for four hours a day, three times a week,
while the family sought a donor. Tim Robertson,
who works in Biola’s BOLD adult degree completion
program, was selected. During the ordeal,
Nathan Robertson kept a blog, updating friends
and family on his condition and sharing his
desire that the trial become a testimony for God.
The blog received many hits after the media
attention, fulfilling his desire. He is recovering
successfully from the transplant. Read his blog at:
nateskidney.blogspot.com.
President’s Jersey Retired
President Clyde Cook’s basketball
jersey was officially retired,
Feb. 20, during a halftime show at
the last home game of the basketball
season. Students wore
“I Love Clyde” shirts to the men’s game against
Fresno Pacific University, which Biola won 62-50.
An announcer recounted Cook’s basketball career
as a Biola student, which included setting stillstanding,
single game records in the 1955-56 season
for points (48) and field goals (18). His framed
No. 9 jersey will be displayed in Chase Gymnasium.