No new addiction

Your article on homelessness was very interesting ("Addicted to the streets," July 29). You are right-we need to change the way we go about giving aid. We should give people not just food, money, and free housing but spiritual counseling and incentives so they can get over their addictions and get jobs and care for themselves so they can earn the money to buy a house and a car. We should not just give them new addictions or fund the ones they already have. -Ian Kelley, 13; Sharpsburg, Ga.

As a physician who has worked with the homeless for almost 20 years, I was appalled by "Addicted to the streets." I volunteer at SOME, mentioned in your article, where compassionate social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, and addictions counselors pride themselves on their comprehensive and integrated approach to moving people out of homelessness. Your reporter implied that his spiritual needs were ignored, yet if he had asked at the front desk he would have received a Twelve-Step version of the New Testament. -John Umhau; Potomac, Md.

Kansas had it right

Forty years ago I asked a college geology instructor why the course did not mention anomalies in the geologic record that called into question the prevailing interpretation of Earth's origins. He said that they did not want to confuse the students. Unfortunately, I did not ask at what level presenting those issues would be appropriate. Could it be that Darwinists rely on indoctrinating lower-level students so that they can ignore the problems in upper and graduate levels? Kansas had it right ("Deliver us from chaos," July 29): Teach students some of the unanswered questions and hold out the carrot of opportunity to solve the problems through research. -Judith Weber; Houston, Texas

Someone recently wrote that we have not progressed a bit in the 150 years since Darwin. I think we have gone backwards as a result of professors who think they're omniscient and their media counterparts, omniscient editors. When debate is stifled, progress toward truth suffers. -Gardner Koch; Rock Hill, S.C.

Marvin Olasky is right. "Yes" to transparency and "yes" to "lay out the facts." It seems to me that the ones who got us into this mess are still holding the mike, so to speak. -Robert Buri; Roseburg, Ore.

I agreed with Olasky's observations but, unfortunately, it is not only liberals who believe in manipulation of the masses and limiting challenges to the perceived truth. For centuries, Christians were instructed not to question official church teachings, and today many churches show tendencies in this direction. A seeker of truth normally has three options: accept whatever is taught without question, quietly tolerate the unacceptable, or go elsewhere. There is little room for questions-nobody likes chaos. -Ralph V. Harvey; Malaga, N.J.

Trafficking light

Thank you to Andrée Seu for her convicting column on human trafficking ("Flesh for sale," July 22), pointing us back to God's heart. Praise God for those Christian organizations involved in the rescue and restoration of women and children who have been sold into the slave trade. Progress has also been made on the legal front but, as Seu's column shows, there is much more to be done. -Janice Chang; Nashua, N.H.

Clueless

Marvin Olasky has done it again with his column on the obscene spending habits of the White House and Congress ("Political catastrophe," July 22). Therein lies the eventual collapse of the greatest civilization ever created by God and the mind of man. Bush and his Republican colleagues have no concept of what they have wrought. -John Smith; Charleston, S.C.

Harder

Your critique of Ann Coulter's book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Bestselling Books, July 22), is disappointing. I don't believe we should be softer on our ideological enemies. Jesus' attacks on "deceivers" were anything but nice. Coulter's attacks on the judges, politicians, and liberal clergymen are justified. These people need to be exposed as the danger to our country they represent. -Jack Hannah; Fresno, Calif.

Ironic chagrin

Andrew Coffin's chagrin over gratuitous violence in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ("The eyes have it," July 22) is ironic considering his generally positive reaction to the remakes of War of the Worlds and King Kong, which also contained graphic, violent images and were targeted to a "youthful audience." -Mike Ratliff; Bellaire, Texas

Presume innocence

In "Irreconcilable differences?" (July 15), Lynn Vincent tried to present both sides of the argument at Patrick Henry College with fairness. Despite these good efforts, however, there are three clarifications we would like to make. First, Kevin Culberson has been an officer in the PCA since 1993. His session has already cleared both him and Robert Stacey of the charges Michael Farris leveled regarding infidelity to Scripture, and the matter has been referred to their presbytery. Second, we were, and remain, willing to meet with Farris to resolve differences charitably. Numerous individuals can attest to our attempts at reconciliation and the opposition we faced. Third, we only spoke to the press after Farris went public with his accusations. Nor have we imputed motives to him. In evaluating this conflict, we ask the Christian reader to demonstrate the charity and presumption of innocence incumbent on each of us. -J. Kevin Culberson, David C. Noe, Erik S. Root, Robert D. Stacey; Winchester and Purcellville, Va.

Far more ominous

When did it become the responsibility of our schools to instill in our children civility, kindness, gentleness, refined use of language, and a love of learning ("Sick tree, rotten fruit," July 15)? We are homeschooling because of the problems we see in public schools, but we place the blame on parents, not teachers. Dysfunctional students reflect dysfunctional homes-a far more ominous crisis than the public-school system. -David Baker; Halfway, Ore.

The public school is the reflection of the values of the society, not the producer of them. Nothing has been generated in the schools that did not first come from the culture, whether dominant or counter-culture. Strong Christian, kind, generous, moral teachers are the stalwarts of the preservation of value in the schools, and they battle valiantly and profusely to preserve and inculcate biblical and healthy values. -Dave Davenport; Fond du Lac, Wis.

Joel Belz's criticisms of the public schools are not without merit, but modern schoolteachers are far less effectual in shaping the values of children than are narcissistic parents and the icons of a decadent and nihilistic pop culture. As such, television and music, more than public education, must bear responsibility for America's youth crisis. -Corban A. Klug; Charlottesville, Va.

Hollow

Long before the North American Anglican/Episcopal churches began choosing homosexuals as bishops, they were choosing outright heretics as bishops ("Katie can't bar the door," July 15). These people denied the very fundamentals of the faith, such as the deity of Christ and the physical resurrection, and thereby put themselves beyond the pale of Christianity. Yet very few of the theological conservatives complained or threatened to split away over this. Their objections now to the very important but secondary issue of homosexuality ring hollow indeed. -John Tors; Toronto, Ontario

Correction

Sunny D now contains the equivalent of 28 teaspoons of sugar per 500 ml serving (Quick Takes, Aug. 5).