LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Passing debt forward a bad habit
7/1/2000The first paragraph of Joe Nocera’s Oct. 3 op-ed column, “Banana Republicans substitute extremism for leadership,” says: “They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
He has that part right, but then he blames the House (controlled by Republicans) but makes no mention of the President (a Democrat) or the Senate (controlled by Democrats). He’s pointing in the wrong direction.
I wonder whether his family signs up for the latest credit card offer to pay for the last one.
Maybe when he retires, he can transfer his balances to his grandchildren or great-grandchildren. That is much easier than living within your means.
People should look to Detroit for an example of passing the debt forward. That’s insane.
TERRY PERRY
Perrysburg Township
Contraception wrong, unnatural
In response to your Sept. 25 editorial “Church vs. state”: Opposing contraception is not strictly a religious issue and not strictly a Catholic issue.
Catholics and Protestants have consistently opposed contraception. They recognized that the consequences would be increases in adultery, divorce, premarital sex, out-of-wedlock births, abortion, fatherless children, poverty, and violence.
All these consequences have come true. The sexual revolution has produced epidemics of deadly sexually transmitted disease.
Those who oppose contraception defend the universal right to life. When we abandon God, we abandon democracy, which is true freedom of choice.
Acting against life is acting against natural law, and our survival instinct as a species.
LORETTA MAHER
Bowling Green
Columnist should switch religions
After so many columns blasting the Catholic Church, Blade columnist Marilou Johanek obviously has spiritual and emotional issues that have never been reckoned with (“Pope Francis takes away the hammer,” op-ed column, Sept. 28).
She is not a serious student of the Bible, or she would know the truth of God’s word. It never changes.
Ms. Johanek should sever all ties with her Catholic “faith” and align herself with a more compromising sect that is willing to condone, accommodate, and conform to today’s worldly culture. Just what part of “no” or “sin” doesn’t she understand?
MARILYN LECHMAN
Springfield Township
Mental health, firearms linked
When a letter writer can say that we have “relatively occasional tragic issues involving deranged abuse of a firearm,” we definitely have a mental-health issue in our country (“Gun control, mental health are separate,” Readers’ Forum, Oct. 14).
JIM MAGERS
Cherrylawn Drive