The prophetic voice

In the mid-'90s I attended a Focus on the Family seminar at which the hosts asked, "How did you come to be involved in having an impact for Christ on our culture?" There were many different stories, but almost every person in the room mentioned Francis Schaeffer. The common thread was his prophetic voice calling us to stand for Christ's love and truth in the world. I cannot imagine the number of men and women who, like me, stand on his shoulders ("The legacy of Francis Schaeffer," March 26). -Lael Arrington; Pinehurst, Texas

A young woman in the United States is starved to death by declaration of law: Dr. Schaeffer predicted this very thing in How Should We Then Live? He warned that either Christians would influence their culture to regain a Christian consensus or an elite group would gain control over the government and thus the people. That elite group seems to be the judiciary, as Gene Edward Veith aptly illustrates in "Disorder in the courts" (March 26). Will the death of Terri Schiavo wake up the church? -Barbara DeLozier; Rocklin, Calif.

Mr. Veith hit the nail on the head. However, regarding his idea that the Founding Fathers never dreamed of the shameful condition of the judiciary, over the last 35 years it has degenerated into exactly what the Founding Fathers warned us of. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wrote, "The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please." Perhaps the Founding Fathers' greater disappointment would be that the citizens of America, even after being warned, still allowed it to happen. -Irene Lagios; Nashua, N.H.

Mr. Veith asserts that our nation's founders assumed that the Constitution would be a rigid document unchanged by the blossoming young country. Yet, Jefferson wrote that "laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind." Too often, the decisions that shape our lives are ensnared in partisan rhetoric that thwarts our efforts to grasp the issues at hand. It is this political prejudice, embodied by the cadre of Christian conservatives, that must be categorically rejected in order to preserve the integrity of the Constitution. -Anthony S. Oddo; Philadelphia, Pa.

Mr. Veith's column is an excellent explanation of how we are losing our self-rule to oligarchy. However, it doesn't give much hope to frustrated people. Cheer up, folks, and get out your pens. Article III of the U.S. Constitution states that judges shall "hold their offices during good behavior." If they are ignoring the rule of law, then Congress has a constitutional obligation to impeach them. As self-governing citizens, we have an obligation to remind our elected representatives of this, and demand that they do their duty. -Janet Bell; Punta Gorda, Fla.

Our Imperial Judiciary, on the testimony of a single witness who had a pecuniary interest in her death, sentenced an innocent woman to die of thirst. Were a serial killer subjected to such an ordeal it would be pronounced "cruel and unusual punishment." To call Terri Schiavo's fate shocking is an understatement. -Leon Billig; Burnet, Texas

The judicial branch should affirm that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." But it seems that the right to Life is no longer self-evident or unalienable. -Paul Rupsis; Winfield, Ill.

Mr. Veith was on target when he predicted Terri's case would be "Euthanasia's Roe v. Wade" (March 12). We in America have not just entered the slippery slope; we're going down on a toboggan. Like David in Psalm 10, I take heart that the arrogance of the wicked does not go unnoticed by the Almighty God. -Elaine Neumeyer; Big Canoe, Ga.

Creator of all

The Bible teaches the universal neighbor-hood of man, where all men and women are our neighbors whom we are commanded to love. Only those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ and are adopted as children of God can rightfully call Him Father. But we can all make eye contact with the pedestrians around us because God is the personal Creator of us all ("Personality profile," March 26). -Anne Calvert; Covington, La.

Relevant yet dry

The reviews of Bestselling CDs are the first thing I read. Where else can you find relevant, perspicacious, dry, and mildly sarcastic commentary like, "a stultifyingly safe song selection can combine to create a commercially viable simulacrum of romantic refinement"? I love this. -Curtis Ghormley; Benton, Kan.

A fan

I am a fan of baseball in general and the Boston Red Sox in particular. The interview with Curt Schilling ("'Never hide,'" March 19) was very encouraging and informative. -Bill MacDonald; Orrington, Me.

W stands for . . .

I find it ironic that the man who called the 9/11 victims "little Eichmanns" and the man who fought against the real Eichmann both share the same last name and first initial, W. Churchill ("Big mouth on campus," March 12). Winston was a great British statesman; Ward is a faux Native American hatesman. -Gary S. Karwoski; Stickney, Ill.

The article about Mr. Churchill was excellent. Thomas Jefferson did not hesitate to ensure that the new University of Virginia would spread the doctrines of freedom, writing in 1826: "In the selection of our law professors, we must be rigorously attentive to his political principles" so that Virginia's legislators would be "sound Whigs." -William Messinger; Whiting, N.J.

Heart of victory

Evangelicals should be careful about how much governmental oversight they push for in moral and religious issues ("Two-track mind," March 12). A left-leaning administration could use that same enlarged governmental reach to our equal or greater disadvantage, and victories won in people's hearts are more likely to produce lasting change. -Brian Schwartz; Nashville, Tenn.

And more

We are among that small percentage of WORLD readers who were able to see the exhibit of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's work at London's National Gallery in person ("Tormented genius," Feb. 19). It was everything Mrs. Ahmanson described and more. The painting of Peter's denial is to me the most outstanding. I felt like I was standing in the midst of crowds of people who were all getting the message of forgiveness in Christ presented over and over again without an obnoxious evangelical sticking his condemning finger in the sinner's face. -David H. Givens; Canton, Mich.

Correction

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals ("The team that Kobe built," April 9, p. 40).