Don’t permit fear; pray for enemies
As a pastor for 40 years, I am dismayed about last Sunday’s front-page story on churches protecting themselves with armed guards and suggesting members not help or encourage those in need in their parking lots. The logic behind choosing such actions is absolutely compelling and impossible to refute: They seek to protect those who are afraid.
But fear is not a gift from God.
Armed guards enforce community standards through the power and authority given them by our society. I honor such guardians and their willingness to sacrifice for us.
But the church’s example should follow Jesus telling Peter to put away a sword he pulled to protect Jesus.
So may I humbly suggest that we as Christians should follow Jesus’ example, especially when we are afraid. Pray for our enemies. For example, one can go to atfp.org and “adopt” a terrorist and commit to pray for that person daily. I pray for al-Qaida leader Jalal Bala’idi each day. It may not be logical, but it is biblical. I believe God still will work miracles today.
Rev. Bill Bond
Blackburn’s guilty by association
Tennessee can now puff its chest over Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn’s co-sponsorship of a bill (by Congressman Marino of Pennsylvania, which was revealed in a “60 Minutes” expose on Oct. 15). It brought us legislation bringing the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) under control. The DEA was going after the pharmaceutical industry that was just trying to make a living ensuring an uninterrupted, abundant supply chain of opioid drugs (a few accidental deaths only highlights a lack of individual responsibility).
Thank you, Congresswoman Blackburn, for remembering who really sent you to Congress.
I wonder how our own Sen. Corker feels about her bid to replace him as he retires.
Michael Bartley
What is our future post-Trump?
As a liberal, I am beginning to worry that Mueller may blow the investigation somehow. He is taking an exorbitantly long time.
I am so hoping that Hillary Clinton will be totally vindicated.
If Donald Trump gets off somehow and gets elected again, then I fear for our political system – that we won’t be able to keep California and other states from seceding and forming their own sovereign nations.
Don’t laugh. We did the above in the Civil War, so it could happen again. Just look at the examples of the attempt of Scotland to break from the UK and more lately the Basque movement to sever ties from Spain.
In California, people and culture are light years different from Alabama and Mississippi. Our values are radically different in different parts of the nation. Social media is fractionalizing and polarizing our country by means of fake news.
I mean, can Breitbart and Nation magazine readers ever come to the main? Can the land of hash browns ever make peace with the land of grits?
Most importantly, can a post-Trump nation lick its wounds and become unified again?
Mike C. Bodine
Opportunities to extend dialogue
The front page of the Sept. 28 issue of the TFP printed an article titled “Statue Debate Gets Local.” This addressed the removal of a Confederate bust from public property. Removal of this bust would in effect suppress American history.
How these memorials may be viewed, good or bad, is part of our history; they should remain in place. Attempts to suppress our past can lead to a slippery slope where the truth becomes a lie and a lie becomes part of the history of our republic. For it is not a story of any one point on the compass nor any one color or race. But it is our, one, American history.
Perhaps rather than seeking moments of greatness, we could reflect on this as an opportunity to extend education and enlightenment. By leaving memorials in their places, and with the proliferation of smartphones, iPads, etc., we could use public Wi-Fi to tune into a dialogue, audio and/or video, on the history of the given icon. What would the dialogue be? Answer: the truth! However, some may see these presentations as controversial, and this would extend the conversation. Which is a good thing.
Peyton Leigh
Decatur. Tenn.
McCoy farm event a Walden success
Kudos to the Walden Town Council and volunteers on an outstanding event at the McCoy farm recently. The highlight of the evening was Jim Ogden’s talk on Civil War history in the area. I encourage everyone to give donations to the continued use of the McCoy property.
Virginia Harris
Signal Mountain
Entry level free market is needed
I’m glad Dinesh D’Souza denounces fascists. I was disappointed, however, not to find much positive information about the “Moral Case for Capitalism” in Dave Flessner’s recent news story. Accordingly, since everything the liberals are doing is immoral and bad, removing and replacing what they have done is moral and good.
Capitalism has problems that I think we should discuss. Free enterprise, as applied, falls short of maintaining a stable, healthy economy because it periodically starves itself of buyers that have enough discretionary income to buy what can be produced. That deficiency can be cured by maintaining a favorable free market, unlike any that we have ever had – a market that sustains competition for the entry level employees that free enterprise depends on. Doing that also will eliminate our unhealthy income disparity and do other wonders.
James O.B. Wright
Sequatchie, Tenn.
Tennessee shows good government
Having been involved in political circles for 50 years, I see the leadership of Gov. Haslam and the legislature have been instrumental in providing solid footing for our state’s financial future. I am thankful for the ability of Tennessee’s state government to navigate through both good times and bad. It has worked diligently to do all it can to prepare us for the future.
Other states around the country deal with significant revenue gaps and all kinds of other crippling issues. Meanwhile, Tennessee’s leaders keep us on solid financial ground and help to protect us for the days ahead. We should all be grateful to the leaders in our state for their tremendous work, particularly in today’s volatile political climate.
Join me in thanking our local state delegation. We can have good government, because in Tennessee, we do have good government.
Margaret H. Chastain
Soddy-Daisy
Dangerous thing to judge others
That slavery was a principal issue in the Civil War is undeniable. It is equally true most of those who fought for the Confederacy were not slave owners, with many deploring slavery and there for their state, which they regarded as sovereign. Constitutionalists have pointed out the Constitution was unclear on the question of state sovereignty.
Gen. Robert E. Lee owned no slaves and before the war pledged in due course to free the slaves bequeathed to his wife. Lee said he was fighting for his “country,” Virginia.
African-Americans strongly disapprove of their past as no doubt did Sen. Strom Thurman’s daughter, but she did not expose her father, knowing that change was inevitable as was proven true when he voted for the Martin Luther King holiday.
Sewanee’s William Porcher DuBose, founder of the university’s seminary, is regarded as the Episcopal Church’s greatest theologian and a saint. As a young man, he was a Confederate soldier and later chaplain.
It is a dangerous thing, according to Jesus, to judge others, and no doubt this would include those of the past. Today, we support equality and justice for every American and those deserving to become citizens.
John Bratton
Sewanee, Tenn.