Readers Write: Jan. 01

Love, mercy satisfied through God’s justice

At the end of William Kristoff’s “Pastor? Am I a Christian?” Opinion, Dec. 28, the difficulty reconciling justice and love is addressed. In every other worldview, when someone does something wrong, to show mercy to that person, justice must be violated. They deserve X for what they have done; they are given punishment that is less than X. Most would agree that if justice dies in a society, hope is lost. We certainly would have a problem with a judge who, trying to be merciful, violated justice for a whole bunch of guilty people on a regular basis.

So how can one show mercy to someone without violating justice? The Judeo-Christian worldview is the only worldview where, because of the sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of us all, love and mercy are satisfied through His justice, and not at the expense of it. This is a very important and marvelous aspect of the Christian worldview and helps reconcile that conflict. I know of no other way to do it without violation.

DAVID R. BOAG, FAYETTEVILLE

Stadium pedestrian bridge a necessity

I wanted to respond to the story “Cost of bridge to stadium could double,” News, Dec. 25. In Hollywood, if you build a “Field of Dreams,” they will come. In Atlanta, if you build a field for Falcons, they will complain. The pedestrian bridge connecting the new stadium to Vine City and the MARTA station is an absolute necessity. It will provide safe passage and reduce traffic tie-ups on event days. Furthermore, whether the cost is $11 million or $23 million, the difference is a rounding error in the overall cost of the $1.5 billion Mercedes Benz Stadium. The effort to reduce the cost of the bridge by making it less attractive is like installing cloth seats in a new Mercedes. Arthur Blank is about to deliver an iconic, best-in-class stadium to the city. The walkway to it should not dilute his accomplishment.

SCOTT BUTLER, ATLANTA

The football costs no one is talking about

It’s ironic that we, all of us, are spending hundreds of millions on the new football stadium and debating the cost overruns on bridges and walkways, when the sports activity we are promoting is one that causes billions of dollars in brain damage and its consequences. Each hit, each tackle, each impact or jolt to the body causes a tiny shaking of the brain within the bony skull, and then a microscopic tear or tiny bleed in the brain. Football is essentially a systematic enactment of these tiny events, beginning often in childhood. It adds up, over the years. There will be a time soon when parents will not encourage their children to offer their brains to this sporting activity. I’ve loved to watch football in the past; but as with boxing, it’s now hard to enjoy the spectacle of brains being sheared and torn repeatedly in many people on each play, not to mention gross concussions. CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) may be just the tip of the iceberg of what happens to neural cells and circuits. We have enough hard data to say that football is bad for your brain, and I expect it will not be around in its current form much longer if the public chooses to look at the data. I’m sorry to intrude these thoughts into the enjoyment of a national pastime, but it’s been bothering me for a long time.

ROSS F. GRUMET, OF ATLANTA PSYCHIATRIC SPECIALISTS

Ineffectual gov’t. rules the day

So here we are, in the richest nation the world has ever seen, and those running things are telling us we can’t afford health care, we can’t keep our public schools working, clean air and water are ruining the job market, we’re supposed to be in continual war, the wealthiest are in dire need of more tax breaks, we can’t afford to fix the infrastructure; you name it and we just let it go for the future to take care of. In my life, I have seen little old retirees living nicely on Social Security by a lake in Florida; I was in public schools where teachers knew who I was because class sizes were manageable; I could work a few weeks in the summer and pay my college tuition; my brother delivered potato chips for 30 years and retired with a fine pension and health benefits. Seems the richer the country is, the poorer we are. I want a government that does its job, not one that says we can’t fix a pothole or have excellent opportunities for our children.