Bishops' role in issue alarming

As a taxpayer and practicing Catholic, I am alarmed by the latest move by Catholic bishops in the United States, including Bishop Leonard Blair of the Toledo Diocese, to include secular employers in their claim of conscience protection ("Obama's 'accommodation' on contraception is no such thing," op-ed column, Feb. 16).

The bishops want to enable secular as well as religious employers to impose their own ideologies on the lives of their employees. To allow secular employers a conscience exemption from U.S. law would violate the separation of church and state.

All of us are forced to pay for practices that violate our consciences: war, execution, mistreatment of immigrants, even the salaries of elected officials who do not represent the ideas and convictions of their constituents. We might not like it, but this is the price we pay for living in a democracy.

Right-wing evangelical groups know that if the bishops get their way, it will create an opening to widen their fights against other inclusive state and federal laws. While arguing that the federal government is needlessly intruding in the internal governing of religious institutions, the bishops also insist that employers have the right to force their personal morality on their employees through the denial of benefits.

What was first seen as a slippery slope of government intrusion into an individual's right to exercise his or her moral conscience now potentially becomes an open door to the creation of hostile working environments for women, not only in Catholic institutions, but also in secular ones. Such a prospect cannot be permitted to advance.

Dustyann Tyukody

Meadowvale Drive

Religions should help children

I was raised as a Lutheran. Many of those in my faith who are conservative oppose abortion and birth control of any kind, as Catholic bishops do.

These conservatives, of whatever professed faith, go on a holy crusade to prevent abortion or birth-control counseling. Yet these same folks also crusade against expanding child welfare, health care, day care, and other social expenditures that help make up for what poor parents can't afford to provide.

These crusaders pay little heed to the biblical phrase: "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me." I look forward to the day when our fellow believers take another look at the Scriptures and ratchet down their "my way or the highway" attitudes.

Mel Pommeranz

Francis Avenue

Would government pay for male drug?

The writer of the Feb. 16 Reader's Forum letter "Religious freedom seems abandoned" notes that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius believes that no woman should have to pay for birth control.

I wonder how the secretary feels about paying for my Viagra.

Patrick Sexton

Flat Rock, Mich.

Rossford schools need attention

On March 6, Rossford Exempted Village Schools will have two 7.9-mill operating renewal levies on the ballot ("Schools plan push for levies' renewal; Forums scheduled for district's voters," Feb. 15).

Our community is still recovering from a divisive 2010 bond levy. In the 16 months since, little has changed. There are small signs of progress with a new board of education, but the district has much more work to do.

The renewal of levies is the strongest voice the community has in setting the direction of the district. The Coalition for Effective and Efficient Rossford Schools recommends that the community vote for the first levy and against the second.

That no could turn to a yes in November, contingent on the district conducting a performance audit to reduce spending without sacrificing education, putting the new master plan process into motion, coordinating the master plan with an energy-savings program, and completing a preventive maintenance plan.

These steps can determine the required levels for a reduced second operating levy and a separate new permanent improvement levy. Both levies combined should be less than the current 7.9-mill levy.

Our school district needs a plan. Voting yes on the first levy and no on the second is the first step toward bringing our facilities up to standards while restoring fiscal discipline.

Robert Densic

President Coalition for Effective and Efficient Rossford Schools Rossford

More parties available to voters

The Democratic and Republican parties are so committed to differing ideologies that they cannot compromise.

Democrats and Republicans accept constant military actions. Neither party fights for a nonviolence curriculum in schools, or for policies of treating rather than incarcerating drug users and mentally ill people. Both largely ignore people living in poverty or with disabilities.

The Green Party's extensive social justice platform addresses these issues. Voting a Green Party ballot is an option in the March 6 primary.

One of the two Green U.S. Senate candidates must get 500 write-in votes to make the November ballot. Otherwise, official recognition in future elections becomes unlikely.

Other parties in this position in Ohio include the Libertarian, Constitution, and Socialist parties.

Politicians will not feel safe ignoring important issues when more people -- especially low-income people and those in minority groups -- register and vote. They will feel even less safe when these traditionally marginalized people also understand they have multiple choices.

Jessica Weinberg

Tottenham Road

Funeral handling unfairly different

The New Jersey State Police kept onlookers and fans two blocks away from the church where Whitney Houston's funeral was held ("Houston laid to rest in private N.J. burial," Feb. 20).

Yet protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka are allowed to disrupt servicemen's and women's funerals, and judges allow this because of freedom of speech. What gives?

Eric Horvath

Martin, Ohio

Character applies to both parties

The writer of the Feb. 7 Readers' Forum letter "Nominee should be above reproach" said that candidates for president should be upstanding people, and that any skeletons in their closet should be disclosed.

Mitt Romney wouldn't disclose his income until he was pressured. Newt Gingrich has not been very moral in his marriages.

But what about President Obama not being forthcoming with his birth certificate, or his college information, or his affiliation with Rev. Jeremiah Wright? What about what President Clinton did in the Oval Office with an intern? Do we excuse these matters because they are Democrats, or does the rule apply to all?

I hope it does, or we are going down a path of self-destruction.

Pam Graffice

Wauseon

Election also about judicial system

In this year's elections, Americans need to address our dysfunctional justice system.

Supreme Court justices want to measure our laws against international laws instead of the Constitution, while embracing the flawed concept that the Constitution is a living document.

As a result of the war on terrorism, the Patriot Act gutted the 4th and 5th amendments. The National Defense Authorization Act allows a person to be incarcerated indefinitely without access to habeas corpus or a trial.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has introduced a bill that would require mens rea to be applied to all federal law. Mens rea, which applies to state law, requires the prosecution to prove criminal intent in order to convict.

It's imperative that every voter get senators on board to make this bill become law. Our freedom depends on it.

Jim Boehm

Drummond Road