Letters to the Editor: Too much arguing about politics, religion, sex (& UK basketball losses)

Keep cool

Many, many years ago I was taught there are three things that one should never speak of at work or in a group setting. Those are politics, religion, and sex. (A half thing around here is a University of Kentucky basketball loss). It seems to me that whenever I pick up the paper, or watch the news, those are the things spoken about most. Sensationalism sells, and it helps to divide. I have my views, others have theirs, and rarely will the opposite view change another. Should we continue to allow all forms of media to inflame us the end result is anarchy. I fully believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, I draw the line at name calling and hate speech. I urge everyone to speak their minds from a non-emotional standpoint. I think if we all did that, views could be changed. Live long and prosper.

Rick Brannam, Lexington

Value, not names

Many Lexington restaurants have been closing the last few years. Unfortunately, patronage from die-hard fans wasn’t enough to keep those restaurants open. Another thing that isn’t going to keep them open is hiring some well-known chef. I have witnessed this time and time again: floundering restaurant owners thinking that if they hire some big-name chef the people will come. Not in Kentucky we won’t. Many of the fancier restaurants in Lexington that ended up closed anyway tried that. The majority of Kentucky residents don’t give a rats banana about who’s running the kitchen or cooking the food. We want our money’s worth.

Yolanda Averette, Lexington

Barr and gun laws

This year nearly 1,000 children have died from guns, 37,000 people have lost their lives and as of Dec. 19, there’ve been 399 mass shootings. Congressman Andy Barr has responded by co-sponsoring five pieces of largely partisan legislation.

The Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act makes interstate transfer of firearms easier so tougher state and city laws dealing with gun ownership become ineffective. The Hearing Protection Act eliminates the need to register or license silencers used on firearms. The Conceal Carry Reciprocity Act of 2019 allows anyone with a conceal carry permit from one state to use it in another state.

The fallout of demanding fewer obligations and responsibilities of gun owners led Barr to support partisan legislation to be funded by taxpayer dollars. The Mass Violence Prevention Act of 2019 uses tax money to create Mass Violence Prevention Centers to deal with violence created by firearms. The School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019 gives tax dollars to schools for security and defenses against gun violence.

Gun ownership that only considers rights, and not responsibility or obligations of ownership, makes gun violence worse, the cost of guns to society greater, and the suffering guns inflict grow. Barr is the problem, not the solution.

Peter Wedlund, Lexington

Include Hanukkah

The recent article by John Burkhart, “Christmas and other celebrations fight off winter darkness”, was timely and appropriate. He mentioned many ancient and modern practices surrounding the solstice all having in common the “burning of fires at night.” In an obvious oversight, he omitted one of the most important and widely celebrated practices of all. Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights and this year runs from Dec. 22 through 30. We need to always include our Jewish brothers and sisters, especially during these times of ignorance and violence.

Randy McMillan, Lexington

Our kids need us

The children of Kentucky need your help. This year it was reported that Kentucky has the highest child abuse rate in the nation. Along with that, a report shows that Kentucky is among the less-educated states in the country with only 23 percent of 25 years of age and older holding a bachelor’s degree.. This is not just a problem, people, this is a crisis. Each and every one of us with children or grandchildren or great grandchildren should be demanding answers as to why we have these problems and what are our educational leaders and government leaders in our state and cities doing to fix them. Our children are the future of our state and country and it seems that Kentucky is doing little or nothing to protect and educate our children. Where are our tax dollars going and where is the lottery money for education going? We do not need to raise our property taxes to support effective education; we need better management of that money. We do not need to blame our social services workers for the abysmal rate of child abuse in our state; we need to demand immediate remedies from their leadership is our states and cities.

Barbara Plymale, Lexington

Sorrow and shame

Why would a mother travel to a strange country with a four-month-old infant? Shouldn’t she know better? These migrants and asylum seekers are not intentional idiots or criminals. Just as most immigrants who came to the United States over the last 200 years for a better life, so it is with these immigrants; mostly young families who are struggling to survive in the face of horrendous poverty and violence. The fact that families would make the treacherous journey to the border demonstrates their desperation. Many churches in the US send missionaries to these countries, proclaiming that we love them with the love of the Lord, but turn around and brutalize them when they come to us in desperation. To do this is to crucify Christ afresh; to spit in the face of Jesus. In the Pentecostal Assemblies of God church of my childhood we sang “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world...” Too many in the Pentecostal/Evangelical church have lost sight of the Gospel of Jesus. The Pentecostal/Evangelical church, of which I am part, is to a large degree responsible for the atrocities taking place at our border. I am ashamed and deeply grieved over this.

Beverly C. Johnson-Miller, Lexington

Selling their souls

The recent Christianity Today kerfuffle with President Donald Trump revealed a welcome split within the Evangelical movement.

Evangelicals, in my experience, tend to be more authoritarian than other Christians. Do as I say because I say it, rather than because it’s the right thing. I don’t have to reason out why it’s a moral thing. Just do it. Like Jesus said, if someone does not believe, just beat it into him.

Assuming that their ultimate desire for others is to convert the sinner, how does this work?

Again, to me, if someone wishes me to be more like he is, he’d better be someone I’d wish to be.

And this is where they fail. They support a serial adulterer, a proven liar, a total moral and ethical failure because they get political power from him. That does sound like a quid pro quo. The Evangelicals get power over people through conservative judges and laws. But at what cost? What have they given up?

And that is the heart of the matter.

I don’t know if I have a soul. But if I do, I won’t sell it that cheaply.

Hal Midkiff, Mount Sterling