Letters to the Editor

A letter Wednesday, "Lifting the stem-cell funding ban," is in error when it comes to beliefs about the morality of abortion. Catholics believe that the soul is infused at conception; Jews mainly believe that this occurs at birth.

The letter's argument that an embryo is "merely an undeveloped baby" simply does not hold universally as religious doctrine. Catholics believe that the fetus (as a being untainted by voluntary sin) has priority for life over that of the mother. Traditional Jewish teaching values the life and health of the mother over that of a fetus which threatens her.

The letter-writer's argument for the government to enforce his beliefs on the nation through the power of government and force of law is an establishment of religion forbidden by the First Amendment.

Ben Burrows

Elkins Park

Re: "11 years old, and ready to kill," Thursday:

An 11-year-old boy in Western Pennsylvania fatally shot his father's pregnant girlfriend. Isn't it bad enough that adults have to buy guns? Why would an 11-year-old need one?

He received a youth-size shotgun as a Christmas present. Why are guns even available in a youth size? Eleven-year-olds are children. Guns are not toys! Wake up, America!

Janet Gazer

Blackwood

It's easy to ridicule the health insurance companies. But consider what they pay out in claims.

My husband's semi-private room for one day at Lankenau Hospital was billed to our insurance company at $4,200. Seriously, the medical profession can bill that amount for one person in one room for one day.

Anyone who has worked for an insurance company (as I have) sees the ridiculous, laughable amounts charged for bedpans to body lotion, then billed to health-care insurers. It's the medical providers who bilk the health-care industry.

Hannah Dougherty Campbell

Havertown

Statistics clearly illustrate the areas of Philadelphia where shootings occur on a consistent basis. If those parts of Philadelphia were in Iraq or Afghanistan, the military would declare martial law, seal off ingress and egress, and thoroughly search homes, stores, and individuals to find terrorists and their weapons.

It certainly seems probable that some modification of military actions, with the military's help, can be applied to specific violent areas, with resultant benefits for everyone except the lawbreakers and killers.

Harry Schmerling

Havertown

"Class warfare" is not the term that describes President Obama's plan to end some tax breaks for the very wealthiest in order to improve health care, education, and job prospects for middle-income families.

Rather, "class warfare" is the term you should have used when President George W. Bush lavished tax breaks on those who needed them least, and then slashed government services for those who needed them most.

Arthur Bousel

Philadelphia
abousel@gmail.com

Cardinal Justin Rigali has announced a new fund-raising plan for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia even as many of the faithful are having serious financial problems ("High goal despite the times," Feb. 24).

He has called on our priests and pastors to contribute, also. I commend him for that. However, I call on Cardinal Rigali to invest in the campaign by selling off his City Avenue residence. St. Charles Seminary, with its empty rooms, could more than accommodate him and any guests he might need to entertain.

I feel certain that there are many other areas in our diocese that have outgrown their use and can be put on the market. Perhaps vacant schools can be rented to others or turned into profitable enterprises.

Linda Ireland

Folsom
lindaire119149@yahoo.com

I am appalled that the Obama administration has pledged $300 million in aid to Gaza. Yet the United States has refused to recognize the territory's ruling Hamas movement because it is a terrorist organization.

Aid to Gaza is in effect, a Hamas bailout plan. Why should the United States bail out Hamas? An even better question: How much aid are the surrounding Arab countries offering?

Robert Zipkin

Lower Merion