Letters for April 19, 2018

Christian Republicans: Dangerous cult?

Evangelicals have taken over and hijacked the Republican Party to the point that the GOP is no longer a political party but is a religious party of anti-abortion, anti-gay and anti-immigration fanatics.

Jesus was quite a troublemaker. In fact, I’m thinking the Trump administration would have a special place for Jesus were the Nazarene to take up his ministry today in the U.S.A.—in a cell with other Middle Eastern men awaiting deportation.

Fundamentalists in the GOP have made Jesus into a Republican. That’s idolatry. Jesus never said one word about homosexuality, never said one word about same-sex marriage or abortion. The Christian who believes that homosexuality is a more important issue than justice for the poor hasn’t read the Bible straight.

The engine that drives the radical Republican fundamentalists in the United States, the most dangerous mass movement in American history, is not religiosity, but power.

Ron Lowe

Nevada City

via sactoletters@newsreview.com

It’s a ‘Forest,’ not a ‘Park’

Re “Treefugger” by Alistair Bland (Feature, April 12):

As a long-time resident of the Sierra Nevada, and seeing such a basic and glaring error as a reference to “Lake Tahoe National Park,” it is not surprising that this article simply parrots the well-worn and failed policies of decades of poor forest management. The relentless monkey-wrenching that delayed and limited the bipartisan Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group “pilot project” may finally be eclipsed by an opportunity to move forward with something that works. The proposal from [candidate Jessica] Morse reminds me of the sadly laughable suggestion from the Ninth Circuit that the Forest Service should just add an alternative in its NEPA analysis where Congress appropriates more money to the Forest Service.

Brian Morris

Auburn

via newsreview.com

Disarm police. (Sarcasm?)

Re “Reporting while black” by Kris Hooks (Essay, March 29):

When anyone is killed, it is a tragedy. It was a tragedy when a friend of mine was killed by a robber. In order to stop killings by police and sheriff officers who routinely carry guns, let’s just take their guns away, then we wouldn’t have to listen to their apologies. In Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland, police officers generally do not carry firearms. Without guns, our police and sheriff’s officers would just have to become more creative in protecting us from crime.

Carl Burton

Sacramento

via newsreview.com

Republicans in general: Fiscally irresponsible

Now that Republicans are in power, it’s back to borrow and spend. We get tax cuts for the rich and deficit spending skyrockets. No one talks about fiscal responsibility, balancing the budget, or the national debt anymore. But debt has historically been the basis for slavery, and some day the bill is going to be due and the credit is going to be cut off, and it will be time to pay for it all. And that will be a sad day indeed.

Marc Perkel

Gilroy

via sactoletters@newsreview.com