The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 3)

I wouldn't bet the farm on this information, but, if accurate, the election may turn out much differently than predicted. Now if only we can get voter fraud under control. Curiouser and curiouser.
-- Michael Tobias

REACHING ACROSS THE AISLE...FOR HANDOUTS
Re: G. Tracy Mehan, III's The Recriminations Begin:

Mr. Mehan writes: "One wonders what the Republican White House and Congress were thinking when they passed the new drug entitlement bill a few years back."

If my memory serves me the Speaker of the House was a pharmacist and the Majority Leader of the Senate was a doctor...in the Age of Abramoff, while, we now know, the "Friends of Angelo" (i.e. Dems) were backing the truck up over at Fannie and Freddie. Pondering it, to how much clearer an example of "bipartisanship" can we point? Palin/Jindal 2012!
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

A MATTER OF DOCTRINE
Re: Mike Dooley's letter (under "Fact Checking Religion") in Reader Mail's Under Attack:

Regarding Mike Dooley's letter of 27 October, "Under Attack," while the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople (to give the full and accurate title) as recited in the various Western Churches includes the famous (or infamous) Filioque clause (the Holy Spirit "who proceeds from the Father and the Son), in fact, the original Greek text of the Creed merely states that the Holy Spirit is "the Lord and Giver of Light, who proceeds from the Father." This has been, of course, the major bone of contention between the Churches of the East and West since the 9th century.

In an effort to resolve the matter, the Pontifical Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity issued in 1996 a "Clarification on the Procession of the Holy Spirit," which begins by stating that the original, uninterpolated Greek text of the Creed is the only "universally binding ecumenical symbol of faith." It also points out that the Father alone is the "Archos Anarche," from whom the Son is begotten and the Spirit proceeds, while at the same time noting that the Holy Spirit is sent into the world by the action of the Son.

Underlining the point, both John Paul II and Benedict XVI use the Creed without the Filioque when writing ecumenical documents. As a Byzantine Catholic -- a member of an Eastern Catholic Church that follows Orthodox practices and beliefs while remaining in communion with the Church of Rome -- I have not used the Filioque in any liturgical service since the mid-1990s, precisely because it is the policy of the Church of Rome to respect the Tradition of each particular Church in the Catholic Communion.

Moreover, the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops is at the present time completing the process of eliminating the Filioque from vernacular celebration of the Mass of the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church, "in order to bring liturgical practice into line with doctrine." When the Filioque is finally suppressed throughout the Latin Church, the cause of Christian unity will receive a tremendous boost by bringing all the apostolic Churches of the world under the same Symbol of Faith.

It's interesting that the Episcopal Church, which has in general walked away from all forms of Tradition in the last half century, should be clinging tendentiously to the Filioque, a doctrinal innovation of dubious theological import, at a time when it is jettisoning most of the other core doctrines it carried away when it broke from the Church of Rome back in the 16th century.
-- Stuart Koehl

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PRESENT?
Re: Jay Molyneaux's letter (under "Cradle to the Grave") in Reader Mail's Under Attack:

Let us take a look at Mr. Molyneaux's predictions for the future:

1. The detonation of a weapon of mass destruction in one or more of our larger cities. Could happen. This administration chose to waste $10 billion per month on a conventional war against people who did not attack us on 9/11, thus diverting attention from those who did. No matter the justifications given by this administration and its supporters, the fact remains we have wasted incredible resources on a conventional war when the people who attacked us are stateless terrorists capable of thinking outside the box. By misusing our security resources, this administration has left us insufficiently prepared for another attack within our borders.

2. The Dow could dip below 5000. Maybe. We can thank Al "ooops, I never dreamed this would happen" Greenspan, Phil "lets deregulate everything" Gramm and SEC chairman, Christopher "I never met a regulation I had any interest in enforcing" Cox for setting the stage for our current financial mess.

3. Social Security payments will be cut. Could happen. This must be a wet dream for right wingers -- the beginning of the end of Social Security.