Letters to the Editor

Some of you have already seen these before, but for those who haven't, I've decided to post the letters of mine that have been printed in the St. Joseph News Press (St. Joseph, MO). On numerous occasions I've been struck by something somebody wrote in their published letter, and in a few of these instances I've had the desire and motivation to write some sort of response. What follows, then, are snippets of newspaper conversations.

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God and the Constitution

Over the years, I have heard more and more of our so-called educated judges in the courts come up with "constitutional" or "unconstitutional."

By this letter, I will tell those educated, liberal devil's advocates, our founding fathers explicitly wrote the Constitution with the Lord God in mind and forefront.

Even more so, the Constitution was directed by biblical teaching and fully intended that the Bible and godly laws and principles were implemented in American society.

In the last 20-plus years, America has become as the days of Noah, which were ungodly wicked, rebellious to the Lord, his Commandments and biblical laws.

For your information, Christ Jesus did not abolish the law but fulfilled it. Another point for your information, Jesus did not come into the world to bring peace but to bring a division to those who are truly his and those who are not Christ's.

Furthermore, the war on terrorists is definitely not Bush's war, but rather the survival of America opposed to Osama bin Laden and his terrorists which, by the way, are rogue Islamic anti-Christian Muslim terrorists who want us dead.

Are you people so dumb and destitute of the truth you believe the liberal devil's advocates' lies and deceptions?

-Rodney R. Bruns
Troy, Kan.

Have you read the Constitution?

On March 29, Rodney Bruns claimed that the Constitution was written with God in mind, and that it was intended to establish a Christian order. I can only wonder which Constitution he is reading, if any at all.

In reality, the U.S. Constitution contains no mention of God or Christianity. It says nothing about the virtues of Christian ethics or “godly laws.” Breaking from the status quo, the Constitution didn’t even mention a generic “Creator” (as did Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence), a “Supreme Being,” or anything of the sort. In fact, this very absence caused an uproar among many Christians at the time. They complained that the document was irreligious and some even proposed (without success) adding religious phrases before ratification. As a popular story has it, when Alexander Hamilton was asked why God and Christianity were missing from the Constitution, he simply replied “we forgot.”

It’s genuinely puzzling to me how Mr. Bruns interprets the absence of God and Christianity from the Constitution to mean that the Founding Fathers were intending to create a Christian government. His position is clearly out of touch with history.

-Landon Hedrick,
Maryville, MO

A local named Bobby Despain wrote a follow-up letter commending the original letter by Bruns. He specifically wrote:

As for the letter to the editor by Rodney R. Bruns, I want to say well-written and job well done. I also want to add that liberals are destroying this country. Since God is slowly but surely being taken out of everything this country was founded on, this country is definitely falling apart. Haven’t people noticed the disasters in this country have gotten worse over the last several years? Unless we get this country back to serving God, I would say they are only going to get worse and more terrible. I hope people will think about this before it is too late.

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Later in the year, as election day was approaching, letters were pouring in to the newspaper urging people to vote for this or that candidate or based on some particular issue.

Morality should be our No. 1 concern

Our liberal media keeps telling us that the top concern among voters is the economy when it comes to choosing a presidential candidate. It shouldn't be.

Our No. 1 concern should be the moral principles of each candidate and what they believe. Otherwise, our choice will not matter. God will remove his hand from our nation, if he hasn't already, and the disasters we have experienced these last few years will pale in comparison to what we will experience in future months and years, until we return to the Christian heritage our nation was founded upon.

-B.L. Martin
Trenton, MO

Consider the issues

B.L. Martin argued in a recent letter that when we vote Tuesday we should not concern ourselves with the candidates' economic policies, but instead, with their morals and religious beliefs. If we don't heed his advice, Martin has a good feeling that God will bring destruction to our nation.

It's time to stop pretending that we know who the creator of the universe wants us to vote for. The decision before us needs to take into account important issues including the war in Iraq, health care, climate change and, yes, the economy. However we decide to rank the issues in order of importance, it should be clear that our intuitions about the political desires of an ancient deity ought to be at the bottom of the list.

Martin, Missouri's very own prophet, predicts that if we vote on the basis of actual political issues (and the candidates' positions on them), God will either cause or allow unprecedented disasters to befall us. I wonder how he knows this. After all, what reason could we have to believe that he has access to the mind of an infinite being? I won't hold my breath waiting for any evidence to surface, and neither should you.

-Landon Hedrick
Maryville, MO

Another somewhat relevant letter was published directly next to mine in the newspaper that day:

Choose life

This letter is addressed to all the “Christians” out there. Are you a Christian? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Have you asked him to be your Lord and Savior? If so, does this affect the way you will be voting in the upcoming election? These questions should be the most important ones you consider before voting. Democrat, Republican, independent, whatever! The only issue that will make a difference for eternity is how you vote based on God’s word. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So Choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendents.” (Deuteronomy 29:19 NAS)

All the major candidates have made their stands very clear for us. Consider this and choose life.

-Beth Downing
King City, MO

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Early this year I read an interesting letter in the newspaper written by Bobby Despain (already mentioned above):

What about our rights?

I want to let Charles B. Larson know that I thought his letter in the paper the other day (Dec. 28) was great and I really enjoyed reading it. I also read an article in the paper the other day that really said it like it is. The secular movement is trying to get Christianity completely out of this country. It is time for the Christians to start letting the government know that we have our rights too and that this nation was built and founded on God’s word.

I know now why they call Christians the far right and the seculars and liberals the far left. It is because as Christians who follow Jesus Christ Lord God Almighty, we are by far on the right side. The seculars and liberals who don’t believe or like Jesus Christ are by far going to be left behind when the rapture happens.

I really think it is time for Christians to start letting the liberals and seculars know that we aren’t going to let them intimidate us anymore.

I want to give the nonbelievers something to think about: If you have children and you love them and are teaching them not to believe in Christ, you are leading them down the path of destruction that leads them straight into an eternity of the agony and torment of hell. I really hope you think real hard about this and find Jesus Christ is real. God loves you and wants you to be in heaven with him, but it is your choice to make. All you have to do is give your heart to him and ask him to forgive you and cleanse you of your sins — only he can do that. I hope I will see you in heaven.

-Bobby Despain
St. Joseph, MO

The letter I wrote in response to Despain was too long, so parts of it were taken out before it was published. As I later thought about it, I didn't really have a problem with the editor removing most of the material that was removed, so I'll post the letter here in the form that it was published (adding one line that I wish they'd retained).

Religious inaccuracies

The “letters” section of this newspaper is often overflowing with the pious opinions of various Christians, some of whom apparently have no qualms with letting non-believers know that they will be condemned to an eternity of pain and suffering by a loving God. One such Christian is Mr. Bobby Despain, who in a recent letter (Jan. 15) made a number of interesting claims.

In the first place, Mr. Despain asserted that “this nation was built and founded on God’s word.” This claim can be interpreted in a number of ways, but ultimately, it is either false or irrelevant. If what Mr. Despain is saying is that the U.S. Constitution is grounded in biblical teaching, then it is simply false. One need look no further than the Constitution itself to verify this fact: there is no mention of God or Christianity to be found there, nor is the Bible anywhere quoted. The Founding Fathers did not mention in the Constitution that God’s word was to serve as any sort of standard or guide for posterity.

Secondly, it was claimed that non-Christians are going to be “left behind” when the rapture occurs. Historically, those who have made predictions of any sort of rapture have a perfect record of getting things wrong. People have spent many years of their lives preparing for the imminent return of Jesus all to no avail. If history is our teacher, then we can reasonably expect the same trend of failed predictions to continue in the future.

Lastly, and most disturbingly, Mr. Despain declares that non-Christian children will be punished with “the agony and torment of hell” for eternity, so we had better teach our children to be followers of Jesus. Needless to say, there is no evidence for any supreme being who condemns children to an eternity of suffering. And even if there were evidence for such a monster, it’s hard to see why he would be deserving of our praise. In the words of a close friend of mine, I must say: I think God is bigger than that.

-Landon Hedrick
Maryville, MO

Despain later offered a brief response to my letter:

You have a choice

This letter is in response to two things. First, I want to thank my church family for their show of love and kindness to my wife and I during our recent illnesses. They called and offered their help in any way they could help and sent cards, and I really appreciate them and their prayers.

Second, I want to respond to the letter by Landon Hedrick in the paper on Jan. 23. I didn’t say there was anything in the Constitution about prayer or the Bible, but I did say this nation was founded on God’s word. Our Founding Fathers put God first in everything. It isn’t what is written down on paper that counts, but what comes from the heart. This was a great country until the ’60s crowd started tearing it apart with their evil ways.

The rapture will happen one day whether you believe it or not, and the nonbelievers will be left behind. Once children reach the age of knowing the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, then they will have to choose which way they will travel life’s roads.

-Bobby Despain
St. Joseph, MO

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I later came across a letter by a woman named Laurel Evans and one by Timothy Meinecke and briefly responded to both:

Don’t knock religion

Religion, especially Christianity, has taken a licking in “It’s Your Call” recently. Christianity has been accused of “teaching hate,” “being bullies,” “being a con game” and teaching the false doctrine of life beyond a “dirt nap.” Callers have proclaimed their right to “not have religion forced on us.”

I can’t help but wonder what caused such bitter denunciations of something that has been a component of the culture of the world since the beginning of time. From the outset, there has been a sense of a force beyond our natural lives. This gave rise to religion in some form by even the most primitive civilizations.

Christianity has been a part of the world scene for more than 2,000 years, and has permeated the society of the United States since it was founded, mainly by people seeking religious freedom from intolerant European theocracies.

I would like to know why the callers believe as they do. Are the many millions of people who embrace the Christian concept wrong? Do those who don’t accept it have a book to validate their claims? Why are they so offended by things Christian? Do they not realize they are just as powerless against the forces of faith as Christians are against secular society’s insistent claims? That the Constitution grants everyone the right to free speech? And also the right to practice their religion without fear of repression?

Although the secular side tires to shut us up, we may “take a licking, but we will keep on ticking” for as long as God gives us breath.

-Laurel Evans
Stanberry, MO

The illusion of neutrality

I agree wholeheartedly with the “Don’t knock religion” letter by Laurel Evans (Your letters, Feb. 3), and I would like to reinforce this matter with my own letter.

I believe that much of today’s hatred toward religion, Christianity in particular, stems from an influx of postmodern philosophy coming out of the academic arena. If you are a student or a professor who enjoys kicking religion around, here are a few points you can ponder:

The necessity of coherency is often challenged, and yet a coherent answer to the challenge is expected. The existence of absolutes is challenged, and yet students are graded by a set of absolutes laid down by those who grade their work. Those who belittle religion have begun with a narrow starting point. Religion is a type of something larger. The larger whole is worldviews. How do we justify discriminating against religious worldviews? The answer cannot be found in plurality, for plurality, when promoted, is a worldview in and of itself. If plurality is promoted above all others, how can it then escape the claims of “exclusive” or “bigoted”?

Plurality and relativism necessitate inconsistency among the components of which it is comprised, therefore these inconsistencies among the various parts are an absolute in and of themselves when viewed on the level of the whole, as opposed to the component level view. Those in our academic settings who belittle religion do not cater to the freedom of choice within the marketplace of ideas, but rather seek to clone themselves by promoting their own ideologies, which is the very taboo of which they accuse persons of religious persuasions in the first place.

Keep on chasing that illusion of neutrality. Truth is exclusive by its very nature. All one has to do is disagree with that statement, and in so doing, they have proven it to be correct.

-Timothy L. Meinecke
Trenton, MO

Burden of proof

On Feb. 3, Laurel Evans asked if “the many millions” of Christians are wrong, and whether or not non-Christians “have a book to validate their claims.” Timothy Meinecke followed on Feb. 7 by claiming that much of the attacks on religion and Christianity are rooted in postmodern philosophy.

I wonder if Ms. Evans finds it hard to believe that millions of people could be wrong. Surely as a Christian (which she presumably is) she would deny the claims of Islam, but are all those millions of Muslims simply wrong? Judging by the claims being made, a significant portion of the world’s population must be wrong. And non-Christians do not need a book to justify their non-Christianity. This would place the burden of proof on non-believers, when clearly it is the believers who must shoulder the burden. It is for this reason that non-astrologers do not need to justify their non-belief in astrology.

As for the notion that the attacks on Christianity are rooted in a flawed postmodern philosophy, I have noticed a different trend. Many people are stating, in no uncertain terms, that God does not exist and Jesus was not raised from the dead. Richard Dawkins triumphantly declares that God is a “delusion,” and Dawkins et al are not postmodernists. What is really needed is a strong positive case for Christianity, not a rebuttal of postmodernism.

-Landon Hedrick
Maryville, MO

Timothy Meinecke later published a response:

In response to Landon Hedrick's letter, Burden of Proof (Feb. 25, 2009) I am finding a careful choice of words, strategically positioned views, and outright dogmatic assertions. Mr. Hedrick stated, "non-Christians do not need a book to justify their non-Christianity." However, he avoids denying that atheists have such books. The majority of sacred religious texts are consolidated volumes. For example, the word Bible literally means "a book full of books."

On the other hand, postmodernists, secular humanists, and atheists all draw upon a variety of books written by others who share their views. Mr. Hedrick proves this in his letter when he stated, "non-astrologers do not need to justify their non-belief in astrology." This line is taken directly from well-known atheist and author Sam Harris's book Letter to a Christian Nation. The fact that these types of reference books have not been consolidated into one volume by any particular worldview is secondary to the undeniable fact that atheists and other non-Christians do indeed use written works to justify their non-belief.

Those who use these books resent being categorized, rather preferring to remain elusive and their views held unaccountable. However the fact remains that non-religious persons of all types do represent other worldviews, and they do have literature that they use in defense of those views, as well as using it to justify their disbelief of other views contrary to their own. Postmodernism, secular humanism, and atheism are different ideologies, however they are very often intertwined. So while well-known atheists such as Richard Dawkins may not be postmodernists, they do fit into at least one of the other two categories.

(Note: If anybody knows where in the book Letter to a Christian Nation Sam Harris uses that line, please let me know. It's possible that I used Harris' words without knowing it, but I certainly didn't flip open his book and intentionally plagiarize. I haven't had an opportunity to search through the book and find that line, and I suspect it isn't even there, but if anybody finds it I'd be interested in getting a page number.)