Editor, Times-Union: I would like to thank the Warsaw Parks Department, McDonald's, the Girl Scouts and the Safe Kids for the neat Coca-Cola Bike, helmet and knee pads I won at Safety Fest. I appreciate it very much.
Ashleigh Rutherford Warsaw
No Tattoos
Editor, Times-Union: Wednesday, I attended the LaGrange County Fair. As I toured the grounds and exhibits I suddenly sensed something was missing. I made it a point to begin looking closer, yet was unable to spot one single tattoo the entire time I was there. How delightfully refreshing!
Mike Burk Goshen
Public Prayer
Editor, Times-Union: Pastor Martin Niemoller once said, "In Germany they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. They came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
This is not an extreme example. I use it to amplify a concern brought to our attention recently by Mr. Lindemuth's Letter to the Editor, Times-Union, July 18. Instead it punctuates the concern all citizens should have in the recent Supreme Court ruling forbidding students leading voluntary public prayer before football games. Let me also press that we are not obligated to that ruling as citizens of this Republic. In fact it is our First Amendment right that allows for the "free exercise of religion" (Amendment I. - Constitution of the United States of America).
I would further applaud and support defying this unconstitutional ruling. As one recent presidential candidate put it, "If they tell us that we cannot pray in the classroom, we should pray. If they tell us we cannot pray in the hallways, we should pray. If they tell us that we cannot pray at the graduation ceremonies, we should pray. Because what they are doing fundamentally violates probably the most important of our God-given rights, which is the right to appeal for aid to our Almighty God." When one is deprived of that constitutional and God-given right, there is an element of oppression present. There is an act of tyranny unfolding when they "tell you that you cannot even appeal to God for aid." The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were established in response to and to protect us from such tyranny.
Also keep in mind defying such a ruling (and remember it is only a ruling) is not subverting authority. It could be said that this ruling is actually a subversion of our system of self-government! Authority (governorship) was established to preserve order. Seeking God's aid is not disorder. He is the ultimate authority and there lies our obligation and responsibility. Studies of the Hebrew midwives in Exodus, of Jochebed (Exodus), Rahab (Joshua), Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego (Daniel) and others can further heighten and explain this position to which pastors/elders and teachers should be heralding to the people. This ruling is but another warning to bring us out of our slumber and to become actively involved with our civic responsibility, to be proactive rather than reactive in state and federal issues. Otherwise there may be very "few left to speak up."
