Vindicator editorial pages: smorgasbord for thought

Vindicator editorial pages:smorgasbord for thought
EDITOR:
"A political conversation with a friend" was the headline over an article by columnist Dale McFeatters on Saturday's editorial page. The headline is not really a grabber. However, I am not sure what kind of a headline could have been used to grab your readers' attention.
I am in the habit of reading articles by columnists. I even read Cal Thomas and George Will.
For those of your subscribers who have not read the article, I recommend that they do so.
In my last letter, I had the audacity to call far right-wingers "fascists." McFeatters does not go that far. However, his parting salvo, with the addendum "I made that up," is the reason I have not written a letter to the editor lately. I am afraid, not of terrorists, but of someone knocking on my door because I do not agree with what our president is doing.
Let me make one thing very clear: Not agreeing with our president does not mean that I do not support our troops, wherever they may be fighting. I most certainly do.
It is also interesting that the article above McFeatters' criticism of the scenarios being played out in Washington, D.C., is an article by a highly respected columnist Daniel Schorr. The headline for his article was "Colin Powell keeps a stiff upper lip." I have been wondering about our secretary of state ever since Sept. 11, 2001. He has made a 180-degree turn from his first pronouncements after the World Trade Center attacks. Powell should have remained a Democrat.
I urge your readers to start paying more attention to the articles written by the various writers you feature on your editorial page. They may not always agree with what is written, but they will become better informed in doing so.
LEONARD J. SAINATO
Warren
Fundamentalists will faceown demise with their views
EDITOR:
Column writer Cal Thomas' column in the Aug. 10 Vindicator offers more of his distorted views using America's daily journals for his soapbox.
His statement that "some Episcopalians are religious heretics" is typical rhetoric used by Christian fundamentalists. Vague, obsolete and curious terms like heretic are code words applied by fundamentalists to consign any opponent to a fiery hell.
Thomas accuses his rivals of "taking a liberal view of the Bible, just as they do the U.S. Constitution." In reality, the religious right has spent millions trying to muddle the language that guarantees the wall between the church and state.
Fundamentalists like Thomas have used ancient Scripture to support slavery, wife beating, capital punishment, support of more and more fault-finding, hatred of other religions and corporal punishment for little children.
The latter may be the iceberg on which fundamentalists would choose to die. If they do not re-examine many of their unwavering beliefs, they will ultimately go down like the Titanic when it collided with an iceberg. They will actually be more like survivors trapped on an iceberg as it moves its slippery slopes to the warm waters of a religion of genuine rectitude, acceptance, respect and nurturing before it disappears forever, leaving this world a more holy place.
WILLIAM B. ROORBACK
Boardman