CedarCreek festival is not religion
10/1/2010I am trying to find even one remotely similar characteristic between the New Testament Christian church and the CedarCreek “bash” (“Anniversary bash: Cedar Creek turns 15,” Sept. 18).
Early Christians kept a low profile, influenced the community towards righteousness, and led a life of sacrifice. Many eventually suffered a similar fate to their crucified Lord.
Now Christianity is all about fun, prosperity, and avoiding the life of sacrifice that Jesus Christ demands. The western “Christian” church, and CedarCreek is a prime example, has assimilated popular culture instead of exposing it for what it is: selfish, carnal, and godless.
It's easy to be a Christian today. Just come to the meeting, give money, live any way you please during the week, then repeat the shallow process. The leadership helps you believe that this is what God wants from you.
The Pharisees deceived people into believing that they were doing what God required, until Jesus exposed them for the hypocrites they were, and sternly rebuked them.
The only prop the leaders of this charade forgot was mirrors to go with the smoke.
Not one word about Jesus Christ, His grace and blessings, and transformed lives.
Early Christians were promised trials, tribulations, and persecution by the Lord. Why isn't the church persecuted today? Perhaps it doesn't rub society the wrong way any longer.
George Flanner
Sulphur Spring Road
Enough of the apologies. Action is needed to fix the hurts and the wrongs done (“Pope on United Kingdom visit admits failures in abuse scandal,” Sept. 16).
The Pope has outlined a three-step plan to address the problem. However, he omitted a crucial fourth step: accountability of each bishop and serious consequences for anyone who protects perpetrators or conceals the crime of sexual abuse.
Without this step, everything else is just window dressing. The Catholic laity must become willing to help the Holy Father come out of the culture of silence and clericalism that centuries ago annealed itself to many of his predecessors.
Then and only then will real change and reform occur. Then and only then will children, teens, and vulnerable adults truly be safe within the walls of the church.
Mike Drabik
Bronson Avenue
Blade op-ed columnist S. Amjad Hussain is correct that Sept. 11, 2001, was the result of religious hatred (“Civil discourse leads to religious understanding,” Sept. 20). The most egregious examples of religious bigotry are found in Muslim countries.
Stoning, gang rape, sexual slavery, the destruction of churches, riots over cartoons, beheading, genital mutilation, honor killings, and suicide bombings are common occurrences in Muslim lands.
Nobody is flocking to Yemen, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Somalia, or Indonesia, where Sharia law is practiced.
It may be true that most Muslims are not violent, but it is equally true that wherever Islam dominates, misery and violence inevitably follow.
Rightly or not, Islamists find sanction for their acts in their religion. It is fiction to believe that Islam can peacefully co-exist indefinitely with American values.
Instead of us needing to understand Islam, Muslims need to get their own house in order first. Perhaps most Muslims are sincerely ignorant of what their religion really teaches, but they have a long way to go before they can lecture anyone else about religious tolerance.
John Randall
Bowling Green
It is difficult to understand and trust people who were responsible for 9/11, who drove a boat-bomb into the USS Cole, who threatened to kill a Danish cartoonist for mocking the Prophet Mohammed, and who burned the American flag in public when a kook from Florida said he was going to burn a Qur'an. They were all Muslims.
I will trust Muslims when they allow a Christian church and a Jewish synagogue to be built in downtown Mecca.
Ed Garvin
Heatherwood Drive
The writer of the Sept. 15 letter “Mosque at site reopens wounds” asked: “Why do so many of us not understand what this mosque and cultural center is about?” The answer is that they haven't done their homework, including the writer.
The cultural center is named Cordoba House after a Spanish city where, in the Middle Ages, people of all religions coexisted in peace. There are spaces planned for community activities and separate prayer areas for Muslims, Christians, Jews, and those of other faiths.
The proposed mosque is not at Ground Zero in New York City but a couple of blocks away. There were two Muslim prayer rooms in the World Trade Center buildings when they were attacked by an extremist Muslim group.
Some have asked that moderate Muslims speak up. Cordoba House is a way for them to speak up. They should be, and are, welcomed by many of those who lost friends and relatives when the Twin Towers were attacked.
George Hartman
Wauseon
Conservatives and liberals have different ideas about the role of government.
In our free-market system, people create jobs, not government.
The only jobs government creates are more government jobs, along with a few temporary infrastructure jobs.
If government grows, our freedom goes. The more money government takes from us the less freedom we have. Government needs to leave us alone.
This idea of small government and citizen freedom should be understood by all Americans. But the growing dependent population courted by tax-spend-and-regulate liberal politicians tends to vote Democrat.
They have forgotten the founding principles that made the United States the greatest nation on earth.
Marsha M. Chestnutwood
Waterville
In Ottawa County, you will do 42 days in jail for neglecting horses (“Oak Harbor woman sentenced; Horse owner to serve 42 days for cruelty,” Sept. 25). In Lucas County, if you strike and kill a child trying to get on a school bus you will face community control, a suspended license, and the ability to drive to work after 30 days (“Driver admits causing teen's bus-stop death,” Sept. 24).
Shame on Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Frederick McDonald, the county prosecutor's office, and the Sylvania Police Department for accepting this ridiculous agreement.
Chris Hammye
Sylvania
This is an insult. Even worse, it is a travesty of justice.
This woman has robbed a teenager of her life, and has devastated families and fellow students as well as the girl's teachers, who are also in great emotional pain.
She should at least serve some time in confinement, then be on community control for at least two years. She should not be allowed to drive again.
Sharon Tobian
Adella Street