Dear Sister in Christ,
In your impassioned letter you make it clear that, although you are a lesbian, you do not want the church to waver in its condemnation of those who act on the kinds of romantic and sexual feelings that characterize your sexuality. You seek to be loved as every other sinner in the church should be loved, with a Christ-like embrace, one that recognizes you as a fellow Christian struggling with sinful dispositions just as everyone in the church struggles. You wants your sins to be treated as no more or less grave than the sins of those heterosexuals who share the pews with you.
I appreciate and understand what you are saying. But I do not share this belief that your same-sex attraction is a disposition towards sin. I believe that it can be directed in sinful ways...
Lifestyle
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Dear
Huw Price
Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy, Cambridge
Martin Rees
Emeritus Professor of Cosmology...
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Dear President Trumka,
On January 1, 2014 millions of Americans will become eligible for no-cost or subsidized healthcare under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There is no doubt that this is a monumental political achievement. One only has to look at how difficult it was to pass the ACA and the continued obstructionism of its opponents to understand the powerful forces opposed to healthcare justice in any form.
Almost without exception, unions supported the ACA. Most did so because they saw it as a modest and achievable reform that could mitigate the combined effects of rising costs, decreasing quality and increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured faced by working families everywhere. Many saw it as a first down payment on real reform that would make healthcare a right for...
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Dear Sirs,
Re. Duranty...
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Dear Fellow Seekers of Knowledge,
Since I became a member of this forum, I have made various contributions to the forum from posting expository pieces to writing informative persuasive articles. I have noticed for some time now that many individuals, particularly in the Controversial News and Alternative Politics Section, have ignored the most basic and fundamental principles of scientific, factual based research. These so-called 'Conspiracy Theorists' present themselves as nothing more than raving lunatics, internet trolls, or religious fanatics.
We must ask ourselves, what is a conspiracy theory? According to the Encarta World English Dictionary of 2009, a conspiracy theory is a belief that a particular event is the result of a secret plot rather than chance. While that is the...
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Dear Juan,
Sorry to hear you got fired by National Public Radio for saying on Fox that you get nervous when you see Muslims on a plane with you. It was dumb to say such a thing, but I don’t think saying one dumb thing should be a firing offense. (I do think an NPR journalist wanting to take money from Fox News to be a regular commentator should be a firing offense, but that’s another story).
But there’s more to this — and some important things that everyone is missing.
For instance, what you said about Faisal Shazad, the Pakistani immigrant who wanted to bomb Times Square. When he was being sentenced this month, he claimed, according to you, that his attempted attack was just “the first drop of blood.” We can’t let political correctness blind us to this, you explained.
I guess...
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Dear Mr. Kasrils
As you and I have a common interest in philosopher Bertrand Russell, you may recognize this quote by him. "Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths".
The reason I consider this quote appropriate, is my conviction that your renewed, relentless attacks on Israel, are similarly based entirely on misinformation.
Let's take the epiphany you described in your article "Sixty years after Deir Yassin", published last year on the anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada. You explained then that your anti-Israel attitude originated when you were "shaken to the core" by horror stories about an alleged massacre of Palestinian villagers at Deir Yassin in...
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Dear good folks at the fine Willy Wonka Corporation,
Willywkna My name is James and I’ve been an avid consumer of your delectable Fun Dip product ever since I was a young boy with a growing palette. My culinary transition from breast milk and mashed bananas to more mature edibles such as Now...
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Dear Christian married to a non-Christian, agnostic, or atheist:
I’m writing to try and explain what’s going on with us, that is, with those of us who don’t share your passion and devotion for Christianity. I can draw only upon my specific experience and attitudes, but I hope to shed light on what many of us actually think and how we all can move forward together…happily.
The first thing you should know is that, yes, we are hostile to religion, and Christianity in particular. One reason for this is your immersion in Christianity tells us you want more than us and more than our relationship. Your adoption of Christianity and injection of it into every facet of your life seems a clear message that our love is not enough. We don’t make you happy, in other words. Our marriage doesn’t...
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Dear Mr Hynes,
I am writing to you in your role as chief executive of the European Science Foundation (ESF). To the best of my memory, we haven't met, so allow me to introduce myself as a professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers University of Technology and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (a member organization of the ESF). I furthermore serve on the Scientific Council for Natural and Engineering Sciences at the Swedish Research Council (another member organization of the ESF). I am mentioning these things just to give you an idea of who I am; the opinions I express below are solely my own and not meant to represent those of any of the organizations just mentioned.
A few days ago, on October 8, the journal Nature published an opinion piece by astronomer Amaya...
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