Letters

Published April 29, 2004

Letters to the Editor may not reflect the views or opinions of the Witness. Letters may be mailed, faxed or submitted using our online form. Only letters marked clearly for publication, signed with address will be considered for use. Letters are subject to editing. Please limit letters to 250 words.

JUVENILE EXECUTIONS

Should age count?

I am writing with regard to your April 22 editorial, “Florida should ban juvenile executions,” in which you encouraged Florida Baptists to urge House Speaker Johnny Byrd to at least allow the House to vote on the issue.

I want to first applaud you for very conservative views in times past. It is my goal to encourage you to continue to maintain these views.

On this particular issue, I have a few questions. Does not HB 63 presuppose that the minor who has committed the crime is influenced by an outside source, peers for example? Does not HB 63 remove a minor’s responsibility in the crime? The role of government is justice (Romans 13:1-6). Government is often inefficient in this role, but we are working to move government towards its role. Is it just to commute a person’s sentence simply because of his age? If he is old enough to kill, is that not sufficient age to receive capital punishment? Is it not true that the moral seriousness of the crime committed is not communicated through mere life imprisonment? The first order to government in the Bible is: “Whosoever sheds a man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”

Anthony C. Pradia, Jr.
Satellite Beach

INTERNET PONRNOGRAPHY

Petition needs 250,000 signatures

How you can protect your children from accidentally stumbling across pornographic websites? Join thousands of North Carolina Baptists asking Congress to protect children from pornography on the Internet by moving it to a web domain extension of .XXX. I started this campaign when my granddaughter pulled up a porn Web site while doing her homework. This move would not infringe on the First Amendment rights of porn dealers but would protect us and our innocent children from accidentally accessing these sites. We cannot do this alone.

Please help us by contacting your members of Congress, by signing our on-line petition or by helping us collect signatures. Our goal is 250,000 signatures that we will carry with us whenever our bill is introduced on the floor of Congress.

Please take time to learn more about protecting your child and what we are trying to do by going to our Web site, www.protecteverychild.org.

For those who do not have a computer, write to me at P. O. Box 749, Knightdale, NC 27545, to receive printed copies of the petition.

For computer users, sign the petition on-line or print copies at our Web site. Every American citizen deserves a chance to make his voice heard!

Mary B. Conyers
Knightdale, N.C.

RICKSHAW RALLY

Use elements of ‘pop culture’ to reach lost

In regards to the Rickshaw Rally VBS material, produced by LifeWay Christian Resources, and all of the controversy surrounding it (Dec. 11, 2003), I personally find it offensive that believers would allow this to be divisive. Thanks to the many Asian cartoons and television programs that lift up Asian stereotypes themselves, these stereotypes are rapidly becoming a part of “pop culture.”

You can hardly get angry when Christians decide to use elements of “pop culture” to reach those lost souls who are so enveloped in it.

As far as comments accusing Southern Baptists of being racist bigots and other stereotypes, I am proudly a white Southern Baptist of what I believe to be Asian decent (I was adopted at birth, so we are unsure, but I carry many Asian features), who is married to a wonderful African-American man.

The bottom line is that we need to pull together as believers, regardless of denomination and other dividing factors, and reach out to the lost. If this means incorporating non-sinful elements of “pop-culture,” so be it.

We need to focus on the lost and not the differences within the Body of Christ!

Lexye Shockley
Tonganoxie, KS

Links of Interest

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