Letters to the Editor
danielrbutler
Published Letters: 11 Editor's Choice: 1
-
Gratitutde and Forgiveness
[Read the article: Adam Smith and the village's amusement at war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn,
I have been reading your post for over a year now and I must thank you for educating me and remaining calm while you do it. I must confess that I am white, from the South, a married heterosexual, follower of Christ who attends a Presbyterian Church and in the past has voted Republican and for a brief period actually worked for the Republicans. It was 1994 and for five weeks I was creative director for Senator Frist's first campaign. That's when my eyes were opened. The "good guys" were not good guys. Their beliefs, their values, their positions meant nothing. They were spin, p.r., a means to an end and that end was power and money. That's when I began to search for truth and sanity. I have found both in your writing.
I have had no illusions about your private life or personal belief or faith. Your bio is a brief CV and I only remembered the "Constitutional law" part. It was your writing, your investigation below the surface and your ability to then pull back and show the big picture that has kept me coming back daily. Your Adam Smith quote today is a perfect example. I learned. I saw connections that I did not know existed. I am very grateful to you for that. Your personal life had no effect on that.
The past few days I have agonized over the e-mails you've been receiving that were personal attacks and name calling drivel from angry, hate-filled people. I know that some of them, perhaps even all of them call themselves Christians. I hear this same sort of thing from people who go to my own church. I received a good deal of flack during the last election just for recounting my actual experiences in the Frist campaign.
As a follower of Christ I need to ask your forgiveness for their hatred and bile. They actually do not know what they do, Glenn. And they really do not know who they "follow". Jesus knew this would happen.
"Many will come to me and say, 'Look what we did for you' and I will say, 'I don't know you.'"
Like the bumper sticker I saw recently, "It's not God that I have a problem with. It's His fan club." If you have similiar feelings, I quite understand.
I'm afraid that bundling politics with faith was fatal. In order to see objectively the Republican debacle and confess its lies and total failure now means to them that their faith is also false. Give up George. Give up God. By the grace of God and with your help, I was able to discern the difference.
Thank you again for your time, your patience, your diligence and your honesty. I pray that all the hate will roll off your back like a gentle mist.
Love to you and yours, DanielB
-
The Fall of Rome Satire Where You Judge Caligula
[Read the article: How did the T get in LGBT?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think you now must know how conservative straight people feel about you. Listen to yourself:
"It is simply not p.c. in the gay community to question how and why the T got added on to the LGB, let alone ask what I as a gay man have in common with a man who wants to cut off his penis, surgically construct a vagina, and become a woman. I'm not passing judgment, I respect transgendered people and sympathize with their cause, but I simply don't get how I am just as closely related to a transsexual (who is often not gay) as I am to a lesbian (who is). Is it wrong for me to simply ask why?"
I have many gay friends, have for years, lost four to AIDs. I really didn't have much in common with them. other than say, being created in the image of God, breathing air, bleeding when I'm cut, needing to love and be loved, feeling guilty, feeling forgiven, (I could go on, but you get it, right?)
It's so sad. We live in a culture where our greatest debate about human rights is getting a gay guy a job in federal government or having the right to kill and die in combat wearing our uniform if you like oral or anal sex with members of your gender. History is going to get a huge kick of our poor ass "Rome" parody.
You are so sad, my petite noisette.