Southern exposure

The modernist theology of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" ("A hymn of hate," June 22/29) is reflective of the theological liberalism that had the North by the throat by the outbreak of The War Between the States. We must remember that the South Julia Ward Howe wanted to "trample" was the region dominated intellectually by the old-school heroes of our Reformed faith-Dabney, Thornwell, Palmer. The war era represented the completion of one of the great reversals in American Christendom as the North replaced its strong Calvinism with Transcendentalism while Reformed theology moved south. - Oran P. Smith, Columbia, S.C.

Support for war admirable

Oh, come, come, Mr. Smith. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has "nothing to do with the God of the Bible"? I admit that I am not personally acquainted with the author or her political persuasions, but the phrases that she uses are remarkably similar to those used by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Public support for a just nation's war efforts is admirable and should be actively encouraged. Can leftists read the Bible and use it to support the war effort? Of course! To accuse those of us who recognize Mrs. Howe's allegorical descriptions of the Messiah as being of "low theological discernment" is more disturbing than is Mrs. Howe's reported background. - Donald F. Thompson, Spring Branch, Texas

Self--righteous Yankees

A hardy "Hurrah!" for Mr. Smith's article exposing the real message behind "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." It is precisely because it is a hymn of hate that Southern sympathies are against it. It is a massive display of the hypocritical self-righteous Northern sentiment which led to our helpless citizens, black and white, being trampled like grapes during the war and which still leads to injustice toward the South today! - David N. Beckmann, Grand Cayman Island, B.W.I.

Stumbling into the truth

William H. Smith has raised the age-old question of the church: What are Christians to do when unbelievers (or in this case a heretic) speak the truth, especially in works of art? Though Julia Ward Howe was a Unitarian and interpreted the terms of Christianity according to a liberal unorthodoxy, the words she wrote are true, and Christians can and have been blessed by their poetic beauty. Truth exists and men will stumble onto it. The early church fathers couldn't reject Plato and Aristotle out of hand. I confess I find God speaking to me from the works of Robert Frost, who was unfortunately a skeptic. - Angela Emmans, Cool, Calif.

Eternal meanings

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" talks of God and Christ in glorious and victorious terms. I see in its words the eternal meanings, not what Mr. Smith suggests that it focused on during a particular time in the past. It is unfortunate that Mr. Smith allowed that Yankee minister to ruin the appreciation of this hymn for him. It would be doubly unfortunate if he were allowed to perpetuate the tragedy by ruining it for the rest of us. - William J. Randall, Augusta, Kan.

Submission to Scripture

In William Smith's defense of the institutional dimension of the church ("A-la-carte Christians," July 6/13), he is quite right to draw attention to the voluntarism and individualism of modern evangelicalism. But the solution to these errors is less an insistence on the monopolization of the individual and family by the institutional church than on the submission of Christians to every word of inscripturated revelation and its application in life and society. - Andrew Sandlin, Vallecito, Calif.

Long live the revolution

I'm still looking for the section of the U.S. Constitution that gives Sens. Kennedy and Kassebaum authority to meddle in the rules of health insurance ("Blessed insurance," June 22/29). And I'm wondering how health care will improve if Donna Shalala-rather than patients and doctors-gets to decide which procedures are "medically necessary." And since the bill creates some "Federal Health Care Offenses" for which doctors can be fined and sentenced to life in prison, I'm wondering how health care will improve if doctors are constantly worrying about sweeping their offices and operating rooms for FBI bugs. Perhaps HillaryCare is dead, but this bill will get Big Brother's foot in the door. Of course, as one Kennedy aide admitted, "My boss still wants universal coverage with cost containment, so from his point of view, the foot in the door is a good thing." And this bill passed the Senate 100-0? Long live the conservative revolution! - David R. Brown, M.D., Oklahoma City, Okla.