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A
U M A I L
B O X
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PRO and
CON
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Religion
has its place, but tax dollars shoudn't pay for it
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Why do
supporters of President Bush's "faith-based initiative"
programs claim that religious groups are more effective than
secular or government programs in helping alcholics and drug
addicts become sober? Is it a matter of faith that
"faith-based" programs work better than secular
ones? Isn't it time that they either produce solid evidence or
stop making such claims?
We need more
accopuntability from these religious organizations that are
lining up for federal dollars from John Delulio's White House
office. Wide-reaching changes in public policy should be made
on the basis of sound research, not anecdotal suppositions.
People struggling with substance abuse problems need more than
an invitation to go to church.
Religion is
important for most Americans, but that doesn't mean the
government should get in the business of paying for it. It
would be detrimental to both bodies.
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Al
Sundquist, Secretary, Alaska Chapter of Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, Anchorage.
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Boy's
persecution is indefensible; religious rights apply to
everyone
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A
letter by Thomas H. Morse defends the persecution of an
11-year-old boy for his religion. According to the boy, he was
told to place his Bible on the floor, even if it were stacked
with other books on his desk. He was also sent to the
principal for respectfully asking a teacher to respect his
religion. Morse calls this policy "the correct one"
and states, equally in error, that other religions need not
display their beliefs in school.
A Muslim girl often
wears a head scarf. An orthodox Jewish boy wears a skull cap
and patos, or sidecurls. An orthodox Jew has mitzvahs
(religious laws) that affect his daily life. Sikh males wear
turbins, and a bracelet that symbolizes their direct link to
God.
Christians need not read the Bible in school,but
they are required to bear witness. Morse would allow Chris
Carson to say no to drugs but would not permit him to explain
why. Obviously, adulthood doesn't guarantee wisdom.
Christians aren't the only victims. A witch was
suspended for wearing a pentagram. She sued, She won,
The
First Amendment mandates indifference to religion, not
hostility to it. To the government, the Bible is just another
book.
I am an atheist by choice. If Chris gets any
grief over his Bible, I pledge to defend his rights as if they
were mine. Someday they might be.
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Pam
Siegfried, Anchorage
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Keep
Religion out of School
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Contrary
to a recent letter, "Evolutionists also defy reason",
the fact that many people enthusiastically support
evolutionary biology does not make it a religion any more than
it would make a religion out of physics or football.
To
separate religion from science, you have to look for two
things. First, the goal of science is to explain how things
work. Evolutionary biology doesn't simply claim that current
species evolved from previous ones, it provides an
independently testable explanation for how they did so.
Creation "science", on the other hand, offers no
explanation at all for how God made species. It merely asserts
that He did it.
The second test is to ask what it
would take to make a follower of either theory change her
mind. Scientific facts and theories are specific and
provisional, subject to revision based on new evidence. Darwin
himself gave several examples of evidence that would
"annihilate" his theory. Creationism remains
independent of any possible evidence because it is accepted on
religious rather than scientific grounds.
To teach
creationism as if it were science is therefore to promote a
particular religious viewpoint. That is not the government's
job. Here in America we are free to raise our children
according to whatever relgious tenents we desire, without
government interference. Send your child to a religious school
if you wish but do not expect the state to indoctrinate my
children with your relgious beliefs.
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Glen
Tarr, Bethel
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