Religious right has no right to complain
Re: “For religious conservatives, the culture war is defensive,” Feb. 6
I thought Tim Carney’s column depicting religious conservatives as victims in the culture wars was an early April Fool’s joke. Carney says the religious right is merely “trying to preserve the liberty of religious adherents to conduct their lives according to their own consciences,” and cites as his primary example President Obama’s “brutal” attempt to force Catholic employers to provide contraception services as part of their health insurance plans.
While all those who love freedom must oppose this travesty, it’s important to point out that the religious right plays offense far more than defense. Its leaders oppose all forms of legal recognition for gay couples and support what Rick Santorum calls “special privileges” for straight married couples.
They demand Catholic and religious adoption agencies be free to discriminate against gay couples while receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies from the very people they wish to exclude. They demand millions more for their “faith-based” abstinence programs, and even wish to bring back state sodomy laws declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court nearly a decade ago.
For more than 30 years, the religious right has waged an aggressive, all-out war without any regard for its opponents’ religious liberty or freedom of conscience. I really don’t want to hear any whining from such monumental hypocrites.
David Lampo
Alexandria
DCPS policy is a crime waiting to happen
Re: “School told student to escort man who assaulted her,” Feb. 3
It is appalling that an elementary school student was told to escort a stranger. However, there is nothing to review due to the fact that D.C. Public Schools does permit schools to use students as escorts “based on the schools’ need.”
This is not a unique situation. The police were called to DCPS nearly 300 times in the 2009-2010 school year, including for a rape at Anacostia’s Moten Elementary School in December 2009, according to records first obtained by TDM.com. The police did not say if the crime happened during school hours or involved anyone connected to Moten.
DCPS officials should immediately abandon any policy that requires a K-12 student to escort anyone before a stranger abducts or kills a student.
Cargill Kelly
Manassas
Not all illegal immigrants have to go home
Re: “Obama flouts Constitution to win over Hispanic vote,” Editorial, Jan. 8
A statement in this editorial that all illegal aliens must go back to their home country for between three and 10 years before getting a green card needs some clarification. True, some who crossed the border illegally without a visa must return home and, if not eligible for a waiver, remain there for years.
However, illegal aliens who entered with a visa and who are spouses of U.S. citizens, the unmarried children of U.S. citizens under the age of 21, and parents of a U.S. citizen at least 21 years old can get their green card in the U.S. even if they have been living illegally in the country for decades.
Tens of thousands get their green cards in this manner every year. There are other categories too numerous to cite here which are also not subject to the three- and 10-year ban.
Michael Guignard
Franconia
