Letters to the Editor
firefly82
Published Letters: 276 Editor's Choice: 30
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@ droogoy
[Read the article: Romney: "Freedom requires religion" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Have you read either of their books? Both? I doubt it. Both are supremely well composed, argued, and not "shallow" at all. Though I suspect a shallow mind would not be able to tackle them."
Excerpts of, yes. All of, no. Intend to, yes. From what I've read of them, I find them angrily contemptuous of what they have no interest in understanding. And congrats, you might actually be the first person ever to call me shallow.
"Religion was deemed a "mind virus" and "disease" long before Dawkins or Hitchens came around."
Having been "deemed" such doesn't make it so. Anybody can deem anything they want. Not that long ago, it was deemed by mainstream genetics that introns were functionless, "junk" DNA. Now we don't know that anymore. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/expl_05_introns.html
"Showing how biochemistry is at the root of all life. And how religion evolved from a memetic [sic] basis."
Why do you assume that those things are incompatible with my faith? They're not.
"If that doesn't grab you, then read Michael Persinger's The Neuropsychological Basis of God Beliefs."
Looking forward to it.
"Showing via experimental data how religion is grounded in micro-seizures in the brain's temporal lobes."
Again with the assumptions about what my faith AND my rational understanding will and won't embrace.
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@ anonymous 5:45
[Read the article: Is a need for skinny jeans in the genes?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"If it's genetic you really can't treat it and that will not do for the thousands of people invested in it right now."
What?! Cystic fibrosis is genetic and we can treat that. Not cure, but vastly improve life expectancy and quality thereof. Same for Down syndrome, sickle cell anemia, and schizophrenia. Not curable, but proper attention can be the difference between life and death.
Yes, I think we have a therapy industry overinvested in its pet hypotheses du jour. I have ample personal experience with psychologists highly resistant to considering information that might undermine their own understanding.
We already know that many mental illnesses don't respond equally to the same treatments in all sufferers. I think it's worth hoping that with expanded knowledge of the disorder's biological mechanisms, then treatment can be more individually tailored to take advantage of how a patient's own body is actually working, in concert with whatever the social/environmental stressors are, and increase the likelihood of recovery.
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@ doc5467
[Read the article: Romney: "Freedom requires religion" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Amen.
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Is an extra X chromosome all a candidate needs to win over feminists?
[Read the article: Voting by gender]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If so, we're all in a lot more trouble than I ever thought.
And there's no way I can afford a webcam.
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But brightstar, it's not either/or
[Read the article: Does Huckabee believe wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Wives should submit to their husbands, and husbands to their wives.
Why American women do not get this is beyond me"
Because I don't want a husband to submit to me. I want one to be my partner and friend, whose needs, strengths, and opinions I value as much as my own.
"No man wants to marry someone who will be a nasty, uncooperative bitch."
But see, those aren't the only two options. Not being submissive doesn't make you a nasty, uncooperative bitch. Not being a nasty uncooperative bitch doesn't make you submissive. AND you can be cooperative, interdependent, and respectful without being either of those two things.
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@ laura83, considering the context
[Read the article: Does Huckabee believe wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's a powerful, sympathetic and nuanced interpretation of the submission decree--thank you for it.
From the point of view of my own liberal Christian upbringing, more context comes in the form of the church and community's specific issues and conflicts which Paul was writing to address. We don't know what specific family conflicts the Colossians were having that they wrote to Paul for advice on. The young church and its family life were in a powerful period of adjustment to a new faith system and its unforseen effects.
Me, I just say Paul's not Jesus so I don't have to agree with him.
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It's not a middle ground.
[Read the article: Does Huckabee believe wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"There is a vast middle ground between submission and bullying, for either party."
No, mutual respect and enduring affection is not a middle ground between submission and bullying. It is something completely different from either.
Of course even the healthiest, most loving, respectful relationships probably manifest elements of both submission and bullying at some times, building such a relationship is not just a matter of balancing between submission and bullying.