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Readers Write: Religion should 'render unto Ceasar'; Obamacare debate misses mark

Letters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of April 23, 2012: Several readers argue that protecting religious freedom can't threaten individual rights. Another says the debate over Obamacare ignores the real issue with US health-care – skyrocketing costs.

When faith and politics mix

Regarding the April 2 cover story, "The faith factor": With so much political activity now involving religion, people should reexamine the basis for their beliefs. Read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke to discover the teachings of Jesus and the fundamentals of Christianity – love, mercy, charity.

There is no model for forcing your beliefs on, or judging, others. And for those mixing taxes and religious liberty, remember: "Render unto Caesar."

John Cormode

Mountain View, Calif.

Everyone says they believe in freedom of religion for all. But in giving some groups freedom of religion do we deprive others of their freedom from religion? For example, groups who believe that abortion should not be legal try to pass laws prohibiting those who believe that abortion should be legal from getting them. That isn't freedom of religion for all.

David Ingalls

Severna Park, Md.

The government is not telling the Roman Catholic Church it can't continue its teachings on contraception. Rather it is telling the church that when a religious institution becomes an employer of individuals from the general public, it must comply with the same rules that govern other employers.

In this case, it is the church denying rights, not the government. Employees who subscribe to Catholic teachings on contraception will not avail themselves of those benefits. Those who don't, will.

Michael Walsh

Denver

Health-care debate misses real issue

A lot of energy and emotion surrounds the debate over the health-care law's "individual mandate," as described in the March 26 article "Big stakes as high court weighs health-care law." Medical care, considered a necessity by most people, is expensive, and so is the insurance that covers it. Only a large pool of subscribers can spread the costs. But the law misses the real problem: sky-high health-care costs.

More than 18 percent of US gross domestic product goes to health care. That exceeds spending for all state and local governments and defense combined. Why is nothing being done to actually reduce this cost burden? Insurance just rearranges who pays for it.

David K. McClurkin

Beachwood, Ohio

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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