Religion

Regarding the letter from Doug Hoffman ("Same-sex marriage court ruling condemned," Aug. 16, I would like to express my disagreement. The ruling overturning California's Proposition 8 in no way "...shows that Christianity has been overtaken by cultural standards... " Mr. Hoffman's bringing Christianity into the argument is wrong. While I disagree with Mr. Hoffman's interpretation, I respect his right to have this disagreement. Let us remember that we are not a Christian nation, and we are not governed by Christian law. If Mr. Hoffman and his church feel differently, so be it. They may accept or deny whatever they choose within the walls of their edifice.

You quoted one of the participants in last week's National Day of Prayer event in Bel Air as saying that "this is like patriotism and spiritual work combined" ("Dozens gather in Bel Air to observe National Day of Prayer", May 6). The singing of the National Anthem and "America the Beautiful" at the Bel Air event highlighted the quasi-religious character of American patriotism. The "One-hundred Percent American" campaign of the World War I era unleashed a wave of enforced conformity that, ironically, shredded the Bill of Rights.

In the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, people continue to ask the useless question, "Why?" We search for the shooter's "motive," as if we could discover a satisfactory explanation for why a depressed young man would decide to execute his mother, 20 first-graders and six of their teachers. Why did this latest alienated loner in our pantheon of mass murderers grab the stockpile of weapons his suburban mother had accumulated? How could people not have known? Was this a "failure of the mental health system?"

I started reading Matthew Brown's article on atheists "A belief in service to country, without a belief in a deity" (Nov. 6) because of my background in the military. I found it interesting until I read this: "Nightly prayers still are broadcast throughout Navy ships at sea. " In my years on USS Ranger and USS Kittyhawk, I saw many programs available through the closed circuit armed forces TV system aboard ship. Never did I see nightly prayers broadcast in the ready rooms or on the mess decks (public areas)

As of today, I have not seen any positive response to Peter Sprigg's commentary on marriage ("Same-sex marriage is contrary to the public interest," Feb. 2) in the Baltimore Sun. Among those responding to his article, one letter ("If the public purpose of marriage is children, we need to change a lot of laws,"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-marriage-law-letter-20110203%2C0%2C6293825.story Feb. 3), mentions that Mr. Sprigg insists "that marriage is only about making and raising babies in the natural, God-ordained way. " Nowhere did I see any mention of God or religion.

I was disturbed by your article about the Arapaho tribe seeking to claim more bald eagles for use in their religious ceremonies ("Arapaho tribe looks to claim more bald eagles," March 18). The tribe displays no religiosity or spirituality with this senseless superstition that does nothing but destroy innocent life. Once again, this is cruelty cloaked in religion. Joyce Robinson, Glen Burnie

This week Maryland's Catholic bishops, men of deeply help moral and theological convictions, issued a call to their parishioners and to the public to protect freedom of religion in Maryland ("Bishops assail same-sex marriage," Nov. 10). It is an impressive rhetorical defense of one of the most basic of natural rights, one not only enshrined in our Constitution but one that led to the founding of our state. But the bishops fundamentally undermine their own argument when they attempt to use freedom of religion to justify their efforts to continue depriving same-sex couples in Maryland of another basic freedom: The freedom to marry.

A spokesman for what is sometimes disparaged as the "religious right" hailed the Supreme Court decision requiring a New York school board to allow an evangelical group to use school facilities to show movies advancing some of its views. But a spokesman for a group that is sometimes disparaged as the "irreligious left" also hailed the decision. In fact the court's ruling was 9-0, and as is usually true in unanimous decisions it was not a victory for any bloc -- just a victory for common sense and the common good.

As Swinburne said when the slovenly G.K. Chesterton once put on his hat at the proper angle, "Not twice on earth do the gods do this." The odds may be about the same for an author eating crow in public, especially when the meal consists of words that made his reputation decades ago.Nevertheless, Harvey Cox does it here, admitting he got it all wrong 30 years ago when he wrote the watershed bestseller "The Secular City." In that book, he "tried to work out a theology for the 'postreligious' age that many sociologists had confidently assured us was coming."

THOSE who would return prayer to the public schools see new hope in two recent decisions of the Supreme Court. The first removed restrictions on the use of schools for religious meetings if they are available for public meetings. In the second, the court declined to review an appellate decision which would allow prayer at graduations if voluntarily led by students.Few ideas are clearer than those of the founders about government ties to religion. President Washington wrote of free diversity of religion as a right, not a toleration.