OVERCULTURED
Re: Mark Tooley’s Here Come the Churches:
In many ways it is so sad and maddening what has happened to the
nation’s mainline churches — that is, their seemingly complete
lack of focus on the Gospels and great traditions of the
Protestant movement.
When I came to Michigan from Tennessee as a child, I felt
alienated from this new culture in many ways, and one of them was
the differences among the people who attended Methodist,
Presbyterian, and the other mainline churches. They seemed so
formal and attractive in their well-dressed congregations with
their formal (at least to me, more used to the louder and more
emotional fundamental churches of my parents) services. How I
wished we were part of that establishment culture.
Well, like many other things, be careful what you wish for. When
my dear wife and I married we chose the United Methodist church
as a compromise since she was a Roman Catholic. For the first few
years we both enjoyed the traditional services and music that
dated back to John Wesley who originated Methodism as a way of
educating the poorer classes in England. Wesley actually remained
an Anglican priest throughout his life. We bought a cottage in
the historic Chautauqua village in Bay View Michigan and enjoyed
40 years of the religious and educational activities of the Bay
View Association. Unfortunately we also witnessed the the
church’s abandonment of its true mission to save men’s souls in
favor of the latest hot button social and political fad —
homosexuality, global warming (I can’t remember if the churches
also joined Newsweek in the global ice age hysteria in the 70’s),
etc. These liberal churches have become essentially part and
parcel of the federal government just as the government has
become an active partner with our great corporations and it is
not hard to figure out who the true master will be in any such
relationship. This too will pass away and Christianity and the
ancient people of the Old Testament will prevail.
— Jack Wheatley
Royal Oak, Michigan
Protestantism’s being fundamentally shaped by the culture is
without question a foundational trait; its churches’ proclivity
for voting on a position regarding same-sex marriage is about as
reasonable as would be their voting on the laws of physics.
Hence, the only question to be asked upon reading Mr. Tooley’s
commentary is whether said commentary is more on the order of
grasping at straws, or whistling past the graveyard.
— Francis M. Hannon, Jr.
Melrose, Massachusetts
CONFLICTING LIBERAL URGES
Re: George
Neumayr’s The Purple Prose of Cairo:
The cultural imperialism of white Westerners is on display again.
George Neumayr points out the latest example when he writes: “His
(President Obama’s) proclamation speaks of LGBT “youth” and the
“harassment” they face, as if America is teeming with
16-year-olds who have gotten sex-change operations in brave
defiance of their peers, as if it is the president’s duty to
encourage teens in bisexual explorations.”
No doubt this mindset is currently at work on language that will
provide for sex change operations in a universal health care
bill. (One wonders if the 16 year-olds will need parental
consent.)
But if a dark-hued shaman, medicine-man, or witch-doctor were to
perform a clitorectomy on a young member of his tribe, the very
same Western elitists would express shock and outrage, decrying
the procedure as sexual mutilation!
Cultural elitists like President Obama need to develop a more
nuanced view of the world. Their ethnocentric biases lead them
repeatedly to the promotion of simplistic solutions to complex
international problems. President Obama has the ear of kings and
potentates, but the imams see right through him. After all, if
President Obama had any respect for Islam, his daughters would be
raised in the faith and he would cover his wife’s arms.
— Dan Martin
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
President Abraham Lincoln prudently stated, “A house divided
against itself cannot stand.” This wisdom proves even more
profoundly true of a man.
— I.M. Kessel
THE MOST SCANDALOUS STORY NEVER TOLD
Re:
Daniel J. Flynn’s Three Times a Felon:
Daniel Flynn tells a tale that has gone amazingly untold. As a
recent Massachusetts citizen raised in Chicago, the stench of
Massachusetts politics is familiar. But Daniel, have you
forgotten the august William Bulger? True, not indicted or
convicted, but complicit, shameless and venal enough for mention.
(Complicit for aiding and abetting his murdering gangster
brother, Whitey, long featured in the FBI’s 10 most wanted…not
kidding, true).
When Mitt Romney proposed to cut the UMass budget, ex- Speaker
Bulger, and then UMass Chancellor, rose to the occasion. The
proposed cut was 5%, but UMass en masse rose to protest the
effort. Faculty, administrators, ‘activists,’ and students were
mobilized and descended on the Capitol at Beacon Hill. William
Bulger vowed to fight for education and freedom, after all, his
special clout and skills were why UMass gave him the job after
his resignation for the Speakership.
But Mitt Romney earned his money in private equity, and he knew
Bulger well enough. He offered a seven-figure retirement package
to old Billy to sign off on what amount to, in the world of
business, paper clip money cuts — even at 10%, UMass’s bloated
budget could afford the cuts. The drama ended. Billy B. “took the
package.” UMass took the cuts. By Bay State political standards,
a thing of beauty…it almost made me want to vote for
Mitt.
— Christopher Roberts
Brattleboro, Vermont
THE END OF HISTORY IN VIETNAM
Re: George H. Wittman’s Road Back to Pork Chop
Hill:
It’s important to recall that the DPRK was rolled back up the
peninsula almost as fast as they had rolled down it until China
entered on the side of the North. With a repeat performance by
China extremely unlikely, an attack on the ROK would be far more
likely to ensure destruction than survival of the Kim dynasty. My
bet is that they are still just playing the extortion game.
— Ned Schrems
HOLY SEE THAT AND RAISE YOU AN INTERNATIONAL
CONFRONTATION
Re: Rev. Michael P. Orsi’s Washington and Rome:
What on earth does Fr. Orsi mean by attempts “to elide
Vatican and U.S. policy”? Does he perhaps mean align?
George Weigel is a fine fellow and, I think, quite reliable on
American involvement in Iraq, but I agree with Fr. Orsi that Mr.
Franco has a better grasp of the Holy See’s attitude in the area
of foreign policy. The Vatican supports or opposes U.S. policy
for reasons it feels are good and proper. For instance, the Holy
See put together an alliance that included many Muslim countries
in order to oppose an international pro-abortion initiative of
the Clinton administration. I am certain that the Obama
administration will present similar occasions in the
future.
— John F. Eros
Charlottesville, Virginia
TOO MUCH MAVERICK
John McCain keeps talking about “reaching across the aisle” to
get things done. Well, if just writing laws were getting things
done, that may work, provided people don’t stretch so far they
leave their principles behind. But the chief executive of a state
or country does not write the laws, although he may have an
input, including the power of the veto. The chief executive
carries out policy and enforces the laws.
There is no aisle in the Oval Office as far as I know. There is a
desk, some chairs, and maybe a sofa bed, depending on the
administration, but the Oval Office is not a legislature. It is
where executive decisions are taken and policy is set and
initiated.
The President may reach out to members of the opposition, but
someone who wants to be known primarily for reaching across the
aisle should be a church usher.
— Pat Gooley
TOO CATHOLIC FOR NOTRE DAME
Re: Joseph
Lawler’s
The Salvaging of Notre Dame:
I graduated from Notre Dame with honors in 1973 with a degree in
economics. I have an MBA from Michigan, a law degree from St
Louis University with honors, and a master of laws in tax from
Washington University. I have over 30 years experience in
business and law. I’d love to teach at Notre Dame, but I’m a
conservative, practicing Catholic with four children, and I’ve
been married for 33 years to the same woman. I’d be welcomed like
the Bubonic Plague at Notre Dame. And I’d love to debate Jenkins
or any of his faculty.
St Louis University is Catholic in name only, but Notre Dame was
a place I had more hope in. Not anymore.
— Jim McNichols ‘73
