Same-sex marriage not same as union of man, woman
I wanted to respond to Jay Bookman’s column (” ‘Erotic liberty’ is precious, Opinion, Jan. 18).
He, like many others, tries to equate or compare interracial marriage to same-sex marriage.
There is a great gulf between the two. The interracial marriage, between a man and woman, regardless of color, was a natural union.
Two men or two women is not natural.
RICHARD DUREN, RIVERDALE
Electric vehicle fee perverse incentive
There they go again—screwing the lesser guy. Just like penalizing the poor by increasing taxes on booze and cigarettes — hitting the little guy. State legislators are proposing a fixed fee of $200 on gas savers with hybrid and electric cars (the “lesser” guy). Aside from being counterintuitive, and wasteful (taking incentives away from saving fuel and staying off the roads — aka congestion), the fee may actually affect how many are purchased. How much revenue will be raised anyway?
Under the current proposal, someone who already “lives where he works” (short or no commute) and drives 10,000 miles per year saves someone (me) less money compared to using a conventional car than the $200 charge. Why would I then buy a hybrid? This complaint is valid under $2.50 a gallon fuel price.
One hopes there is a Republican in the General Assembly that drives a Prius that will point out such folly to the others that still drive emission-spewing engines and drive as much as they damn well please. One also hopes this isn’t to punish the “little” guy because he’s in the minority or has no voice — the same as they do “sinners.” You want a “sin”— how about congesting the roads and wasting gas? Leave the “savers” alone.
TOM DOOLITTLE, ATLANTA
Stress Christian, Muslim harmony
Given the coverage of Duke University’s denial to Muslim students’ once-weekly use of the bell tower, some relevant information may be shared. The reversal has been chiefly influenced by evangelical Christian Franklin Graham. He says, “It is wrong because it’s a different God. Using the bell tower, that signifies worship of Jesus Christ. Using (it) as a minaret is wrong” (AJC, Jan. 16).
It is ironic that Rev. Billy Graham was more tolerant about Islam/Muslims. Post-9/11, the elder Graham preached, in true Christian spirit, that we “should regard Muslims not as the enemy but as fellow-believers who worshiped the same God” (Washington Post, Sept. 2, 2002).
And the bell tower? It was brought to Latin Europe by St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) from his travels to the Islamic lands. St. Francis was impressed by Muslims’ religious devotion, “especially by their daily calls for prayer.” And, the Angelus recitation “was precipitated by the impression made on Francis by the call of the muezzin (just as the rosary derives from Muslim prayer beads)” (New York Times, Dec. 25, 2006). Upon return, he also “preached for Christians to live harmoniously with Muslims.” Amen.
S.M. GHAZANFAR, ACWORTH
No reconciling Islam with U.S. values
As women are beaten or stoned to death, as people are flogged for crimes against Islam, as children, men and women are beheaded, as people fell to their deaths from the Twin Towers or were burned alive, as they were blown to pieces during a marathon, as they are blown apart as their aircraft disintegrate, do you honestly think that they care that it’s a “minority” of Muslims who are the perpetrators, the enforcers, of Islamic law?
Don’t even get me started about Muslim men marrying children. The American Constitution is a denial, a repudiation, renunciation, invalidation, abrogation, denial, rebuttal, of “submission” to authority — which is the direct translation of the word “Islam.”
One or the other must, will, survive. They cannot coexist.
GEORGE MITCHELL, BLAIRSVILLE
