Tug o' religion

For students at Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, an architectural plan and a much-forwarded e-mail message became a lightning rod last year. They ignited underlying tensions between more conservative evangelical students and their more traditional Lutheran counterparts.

The plan detailed a new interfaith reflection room to replace Danforth Chapel, which was superseded by the large Wartburg Chapel built in the early 1990s. The e-mail was a call to arms, demanding that campus Christians fight the renovation of the 40-person chapel.