Letters to the Editor
Applause for a bishop I would respectfully suggest that you have mixed up the roles in your recent editorial ("Standing up to his church," last Saturday).
Applause
for a bishop
I would respectfully suggest that you have mixed up the roles in your recent editorial ("Standing up to his church," last Saturday).
On the one hand, we have a politician, Sen. Robert Casey, who has taken a position that will clearly advance his standing in his political party but is contrary to the consistent teaching of his church. On the other hand, we have a bishop, Joseph Martino, who has fulfilled his duty to remind an elected official of that teaching, knowing full well that his action will incur the wrath of many, including the secular media.
Who has taken the more courageous stand? A more apt headline might read: "Standing up for his church." My prayers go to both, but my applause goes to the courageous bishop.
Steven Neyer
Maple Glen
Opie, Richie,
and Catholics
Director Ron Howard is fighting back against the Catholic backlash to his new film, "Angels and Demons," the cinematic adaptation of the Dan Brown novel.
His response can be summed up in two simplistic sentences: "Get over it," and "I'm not anti-Catholic." I wonder how Howard would react to Muslim outrage had he made a film depicting Islam as a willing partner in murder and corruption spanning a thousand years?
I thought Middle America had done a much better job at raising Opie and Richie.
Christopher Knob
Media
Making our
own decisions
Monday's Inquirer says that Catholics object to Chris Matthews' being a commencement speaker at St. Joseph's and to Sen. Robert Casey's speaking at King's College in Scranton ("St. Joe's violating principles"). Earlier, there were stories that President Obama should not be a speaker at Notre Dame. All of these turned on their views on abortion.
My father once told me that this country would never elect a Catholic president because "we'll never let the pope in Rome run this country." But in 1960, my father voted for John F. Kennedy, saying that he would make his own decisions.
David Perelman
Lafayette Hill
Public deserves
to see these murals
I was dismayed to learn of the U.S. Postal Service's refusal to allow staff from the State Museum of Pennsylvania to see the wonderful murals by Moses and Raphael Soyer currently hanging in USPS offices on Chestnut Street ("Push for public access to New Deal murals," April 27).
The Treasury Department's mural program was one of the more visually enduring legacies of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
We do hope that the USPS continues to respect the original intent of this program: making these paintings as broadly accessible as possible.
Wayne Spilove
Chairman
Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission
Harrisburg
Feeling sorry
for murderers
Torture? Al-Qaeda terrorists cremated nearly 3,000 Americans alive in 2,000-degree jet fuel on 9/11. Now we are being taken on a national guilt trip because CIA agents poured water down a jihadist's nose.
Give me a break! These religious fanatics, this century's Nazis, beheaded Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl because these were not only Americans, but also Jews.
Now, morally preening politicians expect us to wring our hands in anguish because these psychopaths were deprived of sleep and tormented with, oh my god, caterpillars!
Tony Battaglia
Swarthmore
Don't blame
the vegetables
A letter-writer complained that vegetarians and vegans "look down" on meat-eaters, arguing if they did not, the world would be a better place ("What's left to eat?" Thursday). His reason? He claims the last three salmonella outbreaks came from vegetables and nuts.
Maybe he should do his homework. Salmonella outbreaks found in plant-based foods do not originate in them, but likely in the fertilizer (read: animal waste) used to grow them.
In other words, salmonella is an animal-based illness. So its presence on our fruit, vegetables, and nuts is often misleadingly blamed on them and not the true source - animals.
Margaret Betz
Swarthmore