Letter to the Editor: Joplin Globe: MSSU Baseball

Thank you Joplin Globe, for helping me support the MoSo baseball program...

Has anyone else noticed that the Missouri Southern State University baseball team has been winning a lot lately?

Seriously, these guys can flat bring it. Yet the stands are typically empty. What’s up with that? Come on, Joplin, this is your team. Your university. Your chance to have a great time for free.

Coach Darnell is putting a quality product on the field day after day, and it seems like the community is just ignoring it. I mean, there’s always a few parents, and the obligatory girlfriends, but shouldn’t there be more support for a program that’s winning games, entertaining, and free to the public?

I would think that given the current state of economic affairs that last bit would get some attention.

I know, I know... it’s soccer season. And this is football country. And, and, and, whatever. Can the excuses. The ’dogs are on the grill at Joe Becker Stadium (I dare you not to salivate), the field is ready, the team is good.

Check it out while there are still a few games left!

Letters to the Editor: Mike Pound column

SO, I need to confess that sometimes I read something and it just chaps my hide a bit. Like this morning, for instance. I read a column by Joplin Globe columnist Mike Pound that really got under my skin, and, probably to my detriment, I HAD to respond. Did I respond inappropriately? Perhaps. But definitely not as inappropriately as in my first draft, which included words like 'fool,' 'idiot,' and 'stupid.' The column appeared in today's paper under the headline, "Hopes Dashed By Matt's One-liner." It was also available online. I've copied it here, and the response I submitted is below.

Globe columnist
I’m disappointed with Matt Blunt.

I thought he was different. I thought he was better than all the other politicians who have decided not run for re-election. And he was — at first.

When the story first broke that Matt didn’t want to be governor anymore, I was hopeful that we were seeing history in the making. For the first time, I thought, we had a politician who was not going to run for re-election because he said he had accomplished everything he had set out to accomplish. Later, he said he didn’t want to be governor anymore because he lost his mission.

I liked those reasons for no longer wanting to be governor. I was proud of Matt for saying those things. I was proud of Matt for going out on his own terms. For being his own governor who didn’t want to be governor. In effect, Matt was standing up and saying: “I don’t care what past governors who no longer wanted to be governor said. I don’t want to be governor because I got all my work done.”

Downright inspiring is what it was.

Then my hopes were dashed. Then my faith in Matt was destroyed. My faith was destroyed by one little line in an Associated Press story explaining why else Matt didn’t want to be governor anymore: He also said he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Melanie, and 2-year-old son, Branch.

Darn it, Matt, you were so close. You were so close to being my hero. So close to being someone that I would be proud to see go on to higher public offices. But no, you had to ruin everything. You had to say you were not running so you could spend more time with your family.

See, Matt, everyone who quits says he wants to spend more time with the family. It’s the verbal equivalent of checking into rehab. Not that I’m suggesting that you need to check into rehab. I’m just saying that just about anyone who decides to quit a job because of some sort of scandal quits and then immediately checks into rehab. Not that I’m saying you’re quitting because of some sort of scandal. I’m just saying I wish you hadn’t said you were quitting to spend more time with your family.

I don’t mean to criticize here, but if you really wanted to spend more time with your family, I’m thinking you probably shouldn’t have been governor in the first place. Matt, did you talk to any of the other governors before you decided you wanted to be governor? Did you ask any of the other governors if they got to spend a lot of time with their families?

See, I would have.

The thing is, Matt, I loved your original reasons for not wanting to be governor. I think basically saying “Well, citizens, my work here is done” is something the Lone Ranger would say. The only thing cooler than you saying “Well, citizens, my work here is done” would have been if you had hopped on your fiery white steed and galloped away with a hearty “Hi-ho, Silver.”

But no, you had to ruin it. You had to have the Lone Ranger say, “Well, citizens, I am taking off my mask so I can spend more time with Tonto.” Not that I’m suggesting that you wear a mask. I’m just saying I liked your first reasons for not wanting to be governor.

Matt, I had high hopes for you. When you said you didn’t want to be governor anymore because you had done everything you wanted to do, I was moved almost to tears. Matt, I dared to dream that one day, you would go on to decide you didn’t want to be vice president of the United States.

But you ruined that dream for me, Matt. You ruined it with that one little sentence in that AP story.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to stop now. I need to go home and spend more time with my family.

My response:

Mike Pound's column disparaging Gov. Blunt's reasons for leaving office was sad. I was surprised and offended that he would so easily criticize a public servant who has done so much in so short a time. Pound sounded arrogant and ignorant all at once. Perhaps that wasn't his intent, but that's the way the article read. It sounded like an attack on family values, and that, more than anything, doesn't belong in print.

You can do better than that Mr. Pound. As a columnist you have a voice most of us don't. To use it so negatively is a betrayal of your talent, an affront to your readers, and a black mark on your own character record. Governor Blunt is ending his term of public service with honor and integrity. Will you?

Letters to the Editor: Newsweek: A Dissident: The Case Against Faith

So, its a long shot, but I submitted an opinion to Newsweek magazine about an article they published entitled A Dissident: The Case Against Faith and appearing in the November 13, 2006, U.S. Edition. Short and mild, perhaps I'll get lucky... In truth, I'd like to lambast Sam Harris for his hateful hypocrisy, but I've neither the time, not the energy for it. I'm sure he's a sensitive and intelligent human being who deserves a much better reading than offered in such a short article. As it is, he's wrong, and if he's not careful, his willful illogic will have negative and eternal consequences. I've copied the letter below, but Newsweek wants $20 to view the article on-line, and it's not worth the price.

Regarding "The Case Against Faith" (pg. 42 of the November 13
issue):

Sam Harris presents an interesting case against organized religion. Interesting, but not really convincing. When he compares the Christian belief of Jesus return as "a sacred genocide," and refers to Islam and Christianity as "fairy tales," he sounds as dogmatic and close-minded as any religious zealot. Ironically, as an atheist, the core of his own dearly held belief is as circumspect as any held by the world's great religions.

Letter to the Editor: Joplin Globe: SYATP: Part 2

Yay, the Globe printed the See You At The Pole letter in its entirety under the headline "Welcome Sight."

Letters to the Editor: Joplin Globe: See You At The Pole

The opinion below was e-mailed to the Joplin Globe today. It regards their coverage of yesterdays See You At The Pole rally.

Your story (‘A noticeable presence,’ September 28) on the See You At The Pole rally held at Joplin High School was great, but you missed an even bigger SYATP rally on the Missouri Southern campus. There, more than seventy students representing at least five campus ministries (Baptist Student Union, Roman Catholic, FCA, Campus Crusade for Christ and Koinonia) as well as who knows how many Christian denominations gathered to praise God and pray for their campus and the world. It was an amazing display of unity, and a reminder than in spite of the stereotype that students are self-centered and apathetic, many of them not only believe they can make a difference in the world, but care enough to get busy accomplishing just that. Looking at the group of future community leaders gathered around the flag pole on Wednesday, I have to say, the future just might be in good hands after all. Thank you.

Jon Smith
Director
Baptist Student Union
Here's the story from the Globe:

'A noticeable presence'The Joplin Globe

By Rich Brown

rbrown@joplinglobe.com

Carter Hulsey bowed his head early Wednesday morning, and prayed for his school and his country.

"I honestly don't understand everything that is going on in the nation, so I just pray for the leaders that God will give them guidance and discernment as to what to do," said the Joplin High School senior.

"I pray that the people who God has put into authority are blessed with wisdom."

It was the 15th straight year for "See You at the Pole" at JHS, and youths at many other area schools were gathering for the same reason. The annual student-run event gives youngsters the opportunity to pray for their schools, teachers and staff, classmates and the nation.

"This is just another chance to meet, and praise God and ask for his help in our nation," said senior Galen Rea, a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' nine-member leadership team at JHS. "We pray for the president, national and state representatives, teachers, administrators and students."

The half-hour event, which began with a Christian song and ended with students breaking up into prayer groups, drew an estimated 60 participants, said Torrie Epperson, FCA teacher sponsor at the Joplin school.

Epperson said the school's FCA chapter, which sponsors the prayer gathering, has seen a big increase this year.

"We have been running between 100 and 150 members," she said. "It takes an amount of boldness to take a stand with FCA. They have to be strong."

Kevin Deems, who played a drum in the opening song, said he geared his prayer toward just such boldness.

"I prayed that all the people here have the faith to stand up in school and show what they are all about," said Deems, a member of a local Christian band who has attended the event all four years he has gone to JHS. "I try to make a Christian impact, and always be happy and not do anything wrong."

Although the students met at an early hour before the start of school, their activity still drew attention.

"This is outside so it is a noticeable presence," said Barry Sanborn, president of the Area Wide Youth Ministers' Fellowship and youth minister at First United Methodist Church. "You have people driving by who notice what is happening."

Rea said he hoped people would be encouraged by what they saw.

"I think our praying is stirring a lot of questioning and wondering in people's minds and hearts," said Molly Collins, another FCA leader who has participated in the prayer event since the seventh grade at Memorial Middle School. "It makes them ask, 'What's going on? What makes these people come out in the morning?'"

A related event, the "See You at the Pole Rally," sponsored by the Area Wide Youth Ministers' Fellowship and Christ in Youth, was conducted Wednesday night at Memorial Hall.

Letter to the Editor: Roe v. Wade rebuttal

As a point of interest, here is a rebuttal to the Letter to the Editor I wrote which the Eugene Regist-Guard so kindly published on January 21. Personally, I think it misses the point entirely. Here the author takes pains to point out that an abortion was unsuccessfully attempted illegally, so we should keep women safe by legalizing it. My point was that if abortion had been legal, it would also have been successful and thousands of people would today be poorer for it. The real losers of legalized abortion are not the mothers who kill their unborn children, but the lives those children would have otherwise impacted. Sorry, Eileen. By the way, who's looking after the safety of the children you think we should kill?

Abortion must remain legal

Jon Smith wrote a moving letter on Jan. 21.
He is the descendant of a woman who attempted to perform an abortion on herself in 1950. He is, understandably, glad to be alive and in favor of overturning Roe vs. Wade.

I also dislike the idea of abortion. However, it is important to note that in 1950, abortion was illegal and his grandmother tried to induce abortion herself. The attempt failed and she didn't die - two things Smith should be thankful for.

Think, though - the illegality of the action did not prevent her from
attempting an abortion. Indeed, abortion will happen whether legal or not. The best way to prevent abortion is to prevent unwanted pregnancies. This has never been a priority of the U.S. health care system, and there are a lot of unwanted pregnancies.

I prefer to keep women alive and healthy through legalized abortion, rather than irrevocably injured or dead by their own hands. And that's why, until we have a comprehensive sex education policy, with access to counseling and birth control as well as a society where women are truly granted the right to control their own participation in sex, abortion needs to remain legal, accessible and safe for women.

EILEEN NITTLER

Eugene

Letters to the Editor: Joplin Globe: Abortion

I will pretty much always post any Letter to the Editor I submit anywhere. So, here's another one I gave to the Joplin Globe:

Regarding the political cartoon you published in today's (Saturday, January 28) edition:

In all the years I have been reading newspapers I have never been so offended by
a political cartoon. The cartoon featured a pharmacist being hauled off for being 'fanatical' enough in his religious beliefs to not fill a prescription for an 'emergency contraception' pill... (As if conceiving a child somehow constitutes a medical emergency.)

Shame on you for purchasing it. Shame on you for printing it. Shame on you for helping promote such an ideologically naive and morally repugnant piece of tripe. The simple fact is that pharmacists have morals and abortion is a morally loaded issue. Recent advances in science have turned what was once, generally speaking, a morally neutral and arguably noble (helping people with critical medicinal needs is noble) profession into a minefield for those with strong convictions regarding the sanctity of human life.

Abortion and, increasingly, euthanasia are not topics that most pharmacists were forced to confront when they chose their profession. The implications of their actions were not in conflict with their moral values. That is changing with new advances in medicine, and belittling those who have the integrity to confront such issues as they arise is simply wrong. The only 'fanatics' that need removed from the Medicare system are the anti-intellectuals who would rather continue pell-mell through life without considering the implications of their actions, or giving regard to the people who will effected by their choices.

I advise you in the future to be more cautious about the material you choose to print, lest you prove guilty of such irresponsible behavior yourselves.

NOTE: The Joplin Globe saw fit to run this one on Super Bowl Sunday in the Opinion Page (4B). It was edited only to remove the insinuation that the ad was purchased, and included the caveat at the end. Thank you dear Globe.

Letters to the Editor: Roe v. Wade

Today is my birthday. I have officially made it halfway to 70 now. Having said that, I'd like to add that very nearly didn't make it this far. In fact, I very nearly didn't make it at all. In the following letter, submitted to several newspapers, I explain why:

At the tender age of fourteen a girl in Springfield, Oregon found herself pregnant. It was 1950. Alone and scared, the girl resorted to the only ‘choice’ she had; she attempted an abortion with a coat-hanger in the kitchen of her house. Her mother helped. The attempt failed and she was forced by circumstances to have the unwanted and illegitimate child…

There are those who hear that story and are thankful that we live in a country where abortion is now legal. They are grateful for the right to choose and look on those dark, pre-Roe days with disgust and pity. To them, Roe v. Wade is a blessing. There are, however, also those like myself, who disagree. I am the grandson of that little girl, the son of that failed attempt. Had Roe been in place in 1950, you would not be reading this letter now.

In retrospect, my grandmother turned out to be a pretty good mom, one who cared diligently for the baby girl she thought she didn’t want, and whose life she tried to end. Later that baby girl became my mother, and she has long been a respected member of the community, a pillar of her church and a tireless volunteer for multiple civic organizations. Her life has benefited hundreds, if not thousands of people. The fact that she was nearly killed before she was ever born is a tragedy, not a blessing. And that is why abortion, like murder, should be made illegal in America.

As we approach the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision yet again, I am reminded of how precarious life really is. A simple twist of fate would have ended my mother’s life, my life, and the lives of my three children, before any of us was given the choice to live. Roe is not merely a bad law, but a personal affront and an attack on life itself.

So wish me a happy birthday, and weep for the thousands who will this day die before they ever get the chance live.

NOTE: joplindaily.com saw fit to publish the letter on the Opinion page of their website on Saturday, January 14. It will only appear there for 2 weeks though, is my understanding. It was also submitted to the Eugene Register-Guard, which published it on January 21. The Joplin Globe declined to publish it altogether. C'est la vie.

Letters to the Editor: National Geographic

Not that it matters, but I did feel compelled to write a letter to the editor of National Geographic today after viewing their story "Hope in Hell" about humanitarian aid. Here's what I wrote:

The picture of the devastation at the Superdome was an impressive reminder of the suffering that took place three months ago in New Orleans. More recently, I stood at the same site for twenty minutes taking pictures with a team of twelve disaster relief volunteers from Missouri Southern State University on the Friday afternoon following Thanksgiving without seeing a single person or car drive by. We took a group photo next to an abandoned boat, the only vestige of the chaos that thrived there in the days following the disaster, then quietly left the eerie silence of what the 'Big Easy' has become. The sheer lack of any activity was a telling sign of the volume of relief work that remains. Working with the Southern Baptist Convention and the
Red Cross we prepared forty thousand meals for the broken lives that remain... It was a drop in the bucket the size of a city.

Letters to the Editor: Joplin Globe: Evolution

Updating the post of 9/27/05...

The Joplin Globe did, in fact, see fit to publish my editorial pretty much as I wrote it. That, of course, makes me very happy. See 'Primates' on A9 of today's paper or click here. It will be interesting to see whether or not anyone responds...

Letters to the Editor: Joplin Globe: Evolution

Once again the force of stupidity are mobilizing across the globe in the mindless pursuit of a world without Christ...

The Joplin Globe today published a column by Jay Ambrose which I quite agree with, except that Mr. Ambrose didn't go far enough. In the article he describes an expreience had at the London Zoo which I can only attribute to atheism run amok. In a letter to the editor of the Globe I added my own critique which is also here...

Regarding Jay Ambrose's column in the September 27 edition titled, "We're
not just another primate."

It’s good to see someone using common sense for once in their understanding of the human species. Mr. Ambrose was not only on-target with his arguments; he also did an excellent job of showing restraint towards those philosophically ignorant enough to disown their special place in creation.

I cannot claim that restraint. The idea that Mankind is just another species is a prime example of what philosophical dead-ends like naturalism, humanism and materialism—all of which stem from atheism—would like us to believe. The fact is however that such baseless and intellectually-challenged philosophy ultimately leads to the demise of morality and proliferation of mindless activity like 'frolicking around in an exhibit' in the London Zoo while scantily clad.

The very idea that we are ‘just another primate’ is morally repugnant not only to
Christians, but to Mormons, Jews, Muslims and other faith groups as well. If it was true that Mankind is just another species, then we would have to accept that nothing spiritually separates us from all other life on earth and we would lose all bases for morality. We would be forced to give credence to such immoral practices as abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, polygamy, etc., which is exactly what most atheists want.

According to Genesis 1:27 God made man “in His own image…” We are special. We are not like other created life for that very reason. To forget that fact is to ignore
not only the common sense truth that Mr. Ambrose ably pointed out, but our
Biblical heritage as well, and that is much more important.

Letters to the Editor: World Magazine

So, I submitted an editorial to World Magazine a while back, and today I found out that it was actually published! (Vol. 20 No. 29, July 30, 2005) This is definitely the high point of my writing career. Here's the original article. Its an interesting piece on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Here's my response. Of course, this is the edited version (published under the heading 'Cultural Novocain'), for the full submission, see my June 27 blog entry.

In my ministry to students at Indiana University, I am daily shocked at the
ill-conceived and unbiblical worldviews held even by the evangelicals on
campus. Christians taught in public universities are experiencing the
systematic erosion of their faith and, worse, they seem numb to it. Deism
is the Novocain of the university culture. Christian students are soothed
by the "presence" of God even as they are spitted on the moral fork of a
tolerance that is intolerant of their faith.

Letters to the Editor: World Magazine

The following is a letter to the editor of World Magazine submitted June 27 and in response to several recent articles therein...

'Ignorance is bliss,' as the saying goes, and it seems as though state institutions of higher learning leave college students closer to that euphoric condition every year. In my ministry to students at Indiana University I am daily shocked at the ill-conceived and unbiblical worldviews held even by the evangelicals on campus. Christians taught in public universities are experiencing the systematic erosion of their faith, and worse, they seem numb to it. Like a frog in a kettle they don't realize the danger they're in until they've lost that which they once claimed dear. Daily their faith is undermined by well-meaning professors and graduate assistants using the bully pulpit of the university classroom to teach art, science and values from secularist, or worse, deistic perspectives. (Deism is the Novocain of the university culture. Christian students are soothed by the 'presence' of God it offers even as they are spitted on the moral fork of tolerance intolerant of their faith and diversity exclusive of Jesus Christ.)

The vast majority of college graduates attended state universities. That is not likely to change. And there are campus ministers at virtually all of those schools dedicated to offering spiritual shelter in the hurricane of unbiblical dogma foisted off as moral virtue. Yet we, the Body of Christ, are failing miserably to feed the flock at their hour of greatest intellectual need.

That is why I enjoy World Magazine so much. I sincerely hope that the students to whom I minister realize the value of a news source willing to demonstrate Christian values across the broad spectrum of issues that comprise modern life. My only criticism of your publication is that it isn't often read by those who need it most: collegians.