Mailbag

Ill-gotten gain

Aaron Erisman/Claremont, N.H.

Feb. 12: The utilitarian case against gambling laid out in WORLD’s cover story is important but incomplete. Even if all gamblers had the foresight and self-control to avoid financial ruin, gambling would still be immoral. The gambler’s mind is set on what he can get and not on what he can give.

A “paradigm shift” on fires

Carl Pence/Meridian, Idaho

Feb. 12: As a retired forester, I am aware of the challenges our nation faces in managing its forests. It is a complex issue that will not be easily solved by temporarily allocating additional “infrastructure” money for thinning and prescribed burning as the Biden administration is doing.

Anita Ballagh/Burwell, Neb.

WORLD failed to mention maybe the most important, cost-effective, ecologically sound method of wildfire mitigation: livestock grazing. Then again, so have President Biden and the USDA. Grazing ruminants have an essential role in functioning ecosystems by controlling brush, stimulating native grasses, and sequestering carbon. Animal agriculture is often cast as the villain in climate change discussions, but it might be the solution.

Alas, Amazon

Diane McLane/Mountain Home, Ark.

Feb. 12: Janie B. Cheaney’s excellent column gave me comfort and hope. The comfort came from her descriptions of her online experiences that echoed my own. The hope came from the “Biblical mandate” she spoke of that will do a bigger “woke” job than what the Big Tech tyrants are doing.

Margie Deal/Avilla, Ind.

Amazon’s censorship and clout have bothered me for a while. I’m a Prime member and have enjoyed the perks and availability of stock. But when Amazon removed Ryan T. Anderson’s When Harry Became Sally, I decided to buy books from other sellers, including authors’ websites.

Rebuilding Notre-Dame

Jacob Scheeres/Venice, Fla.

Feb. 12: Thank you for writing about the Swiss sawmill helping to collect lumber for repairs to Notre-Dame Cathedral. As a woodworker hobbyist, I was fascinated with the search for the right oak trees followed by the challenge to work with the heavy logs.

Brian Kile/Tampa, Fla.

The rebuild of the Notre-Dame Cathedral appears to be a pan-religious museum in the image of the current culture rather than a conservative rebuild in its original image. The materials used will matter little if it is no longer a place of worship.

Redeeming Love’s blurry lines

Cindy Wittich/Mount Hope, Kan.

Feb. 12: Redeeming Love is my favorite fiction read. I’ve always appreciated and admired how Francine Rivers wrote about the topic of prostitution found in the book of Hosea without ever being graphic. I’m sorry the moviemakers failed to do it justice.

Emily Tibbetts/Westbrook, Maine

Many sinners who may have once seen themselves as mere victims and have since given their lives to Christ will walk away from this movie with a renewed awe that our mighty God (Michael) loves His Church (Angel) that much. There is nothing blurry about that.

Design tweaks in Dispatches

Lamont Wade/Richmond, Va.

Feb. 12: Thank you for putting the cartoons back on the same page. Thank you for removing the black background from Quotables. Thank you for enlarging the microscopic titles of Quick Takes.

Cynthia Rowland/Westford, Mass.

Our family was delighted to see the return of the full page of cartoons. We bemoaned its loss when you went to the new format.

Correction

In O. Henry’s short story “The Last Leaf,” the younger artist is a female, not a male, and the leaf is painted on a wall, not a window (“The last leaf,” Feb. 26, p. 72).