Born Gay?
I have read your editorial entitled "The God of Double Standards" (3/22/07), and as a Christian, wish to address some of the significant flaws in your understanding of Christianity as well as your understanding of Dr. Mohler's comments on the issue of babies potentially being born gay.
You wrote that once a person recognizes "homosexuality as a genetic reality, it does create a theological dilemma for the Mohlers among us, for it means that God is making people who, in the midst of what may otherwise be morally exemplary lives, have a special and inherent predisposition to sin." If homosexuality is confirmed as a genetic reality, as Mohler also suggested is possible, then this in no way creates a "theological dilemma" for Christians. Christians believe that every single person is born into sin, and sin permeates every aspect of our lives, and the world. According to Scripture, the fallen state of humanity because of the sin of Adam affirms this and as such, to use your own words, all people have an "inherent predisposition to sin." Thus, whether or not someone commits homosexual acts because of a genetic predisposition, or a learned behavior, in both situations homosexual acts are against God's moral law, and therefore sinful. In either scenario, we would argue that people are born with an inherent predisposition to sin; thus it does not matter whether someone is genetically predisposed to homosexuality, or it is completely behavioral. As Mohler succinctly and correctly stated in his blog, "Those who claim that they did not choose their sexual attraction are nevertheless fully responsible for choosing to perform sexual acts the Bible condemns as sin -- period." I am concerned that this statement by Mohler concerning the sin of homosexuality was so deeply misunderstood in your editorial.
I would also like to point out that your assertion that growing numbers of this nation's believers, especially many of the young ones, support gay marriage and gay coupling is due to the fact that many "believers" or "Christians" are such only in name. The number of born-again Christians who believe homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle are the greatest for those who say they are actually reading their Bible. This affirms that Christians should use God's Word as the primary source for their moral decision-making, and further, that those who proclaim to be Christians yet agree with homosexuality are being inconsistent in their beliefs. The Bible clearly condemns all forms of homosexual behavior.
I would once again like to encourage you, and others to read Mohler's original blog on March 2nd and also his response to the backlash he received from this blog, which was written on March 16th. I am surprised at how many articles and editorials have been written such as yours that bring up questions and comment on issues that Mohler very clearly has already addressed. It seems people are playing a bit of "telephone" instead of being intellectually responsible and going to the source to see what has actually been said.
Jenny Clark
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Whose Vendetta?
I was quite surprised to find, while doing a simple Internet search, that my name appeared in "V for Vendetta" (2/14/07), written by Ann Friedman. To further my surprise not only was my quote, which was made to another publication, taken out of context but also the author got all of her information wrong regarding my position. I am not president of any Republican groups on campus. Where the author got this information, I have no clue since I was never contacted as a source for this piece. What I can tell however, being a student of journalism myself, is that it's sloppy.
Here is the entire quote from The Maneater, not cut in half: "The V-Day movement is about taking away Valentine's Day, the one day a year used to celebrate every form of love, in the name of stopping domestic violence," Hanneken said. "'The Vagina Monologues' itself is a degrading play that focuses on a woman's anatomy and sexuality instead of her personality or intelligence. This is all under the guise of empowering women."
The author twisted the causes of the Independent Women's Forum and the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute quite far. Both of these organizations were very helpful in my campuses own campaign. They promote alternatives to fighting violence against women since many women feel that "V-day" and The Vagina Monologues are demeaning. How exactly is that avoiding talking about violence on Valentine's Day? Friedman even mentions this fact later in her column. Forbid it be that some women don't wish to be reduced to their sexual parts in a play that applauds "good rape" (when an older woman rapes an underage girl), chanting lewd names for vagina, and male bashing. Being a career driven, college student I think that I am far from celebrating "traditional gender roles" but apparently having self-dignity and not hating every man I come into contact with is not independent enough for Ms. Friedman.
As the fliers claim, "Real women look up!" This means standing tall and looking ahead not focused entirely on our sexuality and not defining ourselves by our bodiesalone. The media does enough of that already.
Amber Hanneken
Columbia, Missouri
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Father Figures
I read with great interest the article titled "What About Fathers?" from the March 2007 issue. The information and insight provided in the article are intriguing, but I was surprised by the misleading characterization of National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI).
The writer, Dr. Coltrane, describes NFI as a "conservative think tank." In reality, NFI is neither conservative nor a think tank. We are a non-partisan organization (some of our biggest supporters in the Senate are Evan Bayh and Pete Domenici and in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Robert Aderholt, among others) that provides resources for organizations that are working in all sectors of society to increase the level of involvement that fathers take in their children's lives, whether they are married to mom or not. We work with a wide range of organizations, from prisons (we have the largest prison-based fatherhood program in the country) to Head Starts, to YMCA's, to hospitals.
Most importantly, for the purposes of the "What About Fathers?" article, we are one of the only organizations in the country aggressively approaching corporations to help them better serve fathers in the workplace. We have a full-fledged Work/Family Balance for Dads programming area and we are working with several Fortune 500 companies to integrate more father-friendly practices and resources into the workplace. We are starting to see great progress on this front.
Roland C. Warren
President, National Fatherhood Initiative
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