The American Spectator

Reader Mail

State of the Race

5.17.07 @ 12:01AM

(Page 4 of 4)

In his zeal to exorcise the demon nerd of Blacksburg , David Hogberg commends arming all who matriculate. Considering what happened the last time a Princeton president ran into a Columbia graduate in Wehawken, New Jersey, this may not be such a good idea. Tempers run high when faculty meeting stakes grow low-- who unclad in kevlar would wish to intervene in a debate between a certain Harvard Law professor and De Paul university's doyen of political philosophy?

It would be unsporting to object to arming undergraduates at establishments such as Wellesley or Smith College, as not even the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment has provoked them to mass murder, but coeducational institutions of higher learning may wish to seek alternatives. One worth commending is the late naval historian, Samuel Eliot Morrison, who made it a point to ride to his lecture venues.

Had students and faculty of all degrees at Blacksburg conducted their class exercises on horseback, they might have galloped out of range or ridden down their assailant at will.
-- Russell Seitz
Cambridge, Massachusetts

CLOSING THE CAFETERIA
Re: Lisa Fabrizio's Paternal Correction:

I recall addressing this point before, possibly when John Kerry asserted his Catholicism as a presidential candidate in '04. Articles such as this one make one wonder why politicians such as Letitia Quezada feel that they can alter the Church and make of it what they will. If Senora Quezada, Joseph Biden, Rudy Giuliani, and others of their stripe cannot accept the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, they are free to leave it for a more accommodating group, or to begin their own sect.

When someone such as Senora Quezada states that her "conscience is clean," she is, in reality stating that she has no conscience. In addition, she is revoking the entire authority of the hierarchy of the Church, and substituting her own feelings.

Over many years, centuries even, encyclicals from the Popes have ex-cathedra laid out the articles of faith for right members of the Mystical Body of Christ. The monumental ego that makes a politician not just thumb his or her nose at these documents in order to be elected, but think that after trashing the Faith, he or she can go blithely on, presenting to the world the charade of Catholicism is a thing of great ugliness.

In short, Catholics practice Catholicism. Non-catholics do not.
-- Joseph Baum
Garrettsville, Ohio

IT'S IN THE CREEDS
Re: Blake Salisbury's letter (under "Romney Spot On") in Reader Mail's Cracking the Nutty Story:

That Romney is a Mormon doesn't bother me. As I see it, we need all conservatives of all kinds to oppose a world full of those hostile to family, country and our Lord.

On the other hand, in the realm of faith, by seeking to defend Mormonism against those who say it isn't Christian, Mormons usually end up saying something that is disturbing. Blake Salisbury toward the end of his letter gives a good summation of the gospel message and then brings it all in doubt by rejecting what he calls the "belief creeds" of the Church. This is hardly reassuring.

By rejecting the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian), Mormonism separates itself from the historic universal faith. The creeds are not trivial matters. They are the definitive, clear faith witnesses of Trinity and the incarnation of Christ. They arose in response to real and dangerous heresies which even to this day seek to change the message of the gospel. You can't dismiss the creeds without dismissing their content. Thus when any denomination rejects the creeds, it places itself under suspicion and most likely has detached itself from the universal Church. Mr. Salisbury is perfectly entitled to his belief. But he has to acknowledge that others are also perfectly entitled to their conviction that no properly taught person can be a Christian without subscribing to the creeds. Like most of us who have had our faith disparaged during theological disputes, Mr. Salisbury will just have to get over it.
-- Michael Wm. Dooley
Indianapolis, Indiana

BEST FOR LAST
Re: The Washington Prowler's Here Royal Fairness:

No mention of Michael Savage and the Savage Nation...? That's odd. More folks turn into his radio show more often then Rush and all the others mentioned. His listenership is over 10M strong and growing. The fact that he is not even mentioned leads me to believe that they (Pelosi and camp) are more afraid of the Savage Nation than anyone else...
-- Steve Adler

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Trade, Health Care, John McCain, Mainstream Media, Catholicism, Abortion, Constitution, Law, Iraq, Israel, Energy