Sin

I read Jeff Kanyar's letter "For same-sex unions" (Oct. 14) which argues that since the Catholic Church acknowledges gays and lesbians exist, that this "thereby freed them from the burden of sin. " Where did the Church say that their sin is "freed" because they are acknowledged? Will he also acknowledge that murderers exist? And does this free them from their crimes? Thomas Bateman, Lutherville

Elizabeth Ann Murphy's response to Vice Chancellor Sean Caine's letter justifying the Archdiocese of Baltimore's response to allegations of child sexual abuse by John Merzbacher was revealing in its account of her own experience as a victim of such abuse ("Merzbacher victim: Archdiocese has much to answer for," Dec. 6). We in the child advocacy community understand the long-term ramifications of this type of abuse. The hurt to the victim doesn't go away, and to justify any institution's reaction that does not fully embrace that concept is shameful.

It is time for the psychiatrists and psychologists to fold up the tents, take down the marquees and go home, taking their theories with them. Psychology doesn't work.When I was a child, I went to a convent school run by nuns whose order was cloistered in the 13th century. When you crossed their threshold, you covered not distance but time. I went to school in the Middle Ages.It was a place where the world worked if you looked deeply enough. A world of microcosm and macrocosm. This world mirroring the next.

There is no TV genre more problematic than docudrama. And Sunday's premiere of "SEAL Team Six," which claims to be the true, inside story of the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, is as problematic as they come. The core issues all grow from the docudramatist's desire to have it both ways in mixing fact and fiction. The goal is to have the credibility of the documentary as well as the poetic license to invent and collapse facts and details in the name of the most compelling storytelling.

The Episcopal bishop of Easton, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, has stripped an 85-year-old priest of his authority to preach or perform the sacraments because he blessed the union of two gay men dying of AIDS.The Book of Common Prayer, which includes the marriage ceremony, has nothing to say about same-sex unions, but speaks only of ''The union of husband and wife in heart, body and mind intended by God for their mutual joy, for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity, and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children.

Dan Rodricks ("Same sex unions: What would Jesus do?" Oct. 25) ventured all over the map in trying to discredit the Christian view about homosexuality. First, he tried to imply that the Christian view is that homosexuals should be put to death. I don't know of any Christians who think homosexuals should be put to death. Although Dan was all over the map concerning Christianity, lets just stick to the subject, homosexuality and same-sex unions. I don't know of a single major religion that condones sexual relations between two men or two women.

I was astonished to see bare hands on the pages of a 400-year-old King James Bible in a photograph on The Sun's front page ("Stevenson to house first edition of King James Bible," April 3). I was then stunned by the photo on the inside page of this article showing that the bare hands flipping pages belonged to the director of the Maryland Bible Society and Stevenson University's "archivist. " Isn't it standard archival practice to use gloves when handling documentary artifacts?

Amid the tumultuous events of the past weekend, a noteworthy story got buried: Jimmy Swaggart, who only five years ago was the unrivaled high priest of televangelism, was arrested on a minor traffic charge in California -- in the company of a prostitute. The story made just a few paragraphs inside most papers.Only a hard-hearted cynic could find merriment in this development. After his downfall three years ago when he was caught with a prostitute in a motel, Swaggart made his tearful "I-have-sinned" confession which was so dramatic that he made the cover of Time magazine.

In the plan to delay the onset of 72 percent higher electric bills this July for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers, there is only one direct link between the utility's rate relief and its parent company's plan to merge with a Florida power company. That's the $214 million in merger-related savings that Constellation Energy Group will kick back to BGE consumers over 10 years to lower their bills. Let's be clear about this $21.4 million a year. It's Constellation's estimate of what can be directly saved as a result of its proposed merger with Florida's FPL Group.

Oh, those wacky Scandinavians! What a zany lot! Inside every silver lining there's a dark cloud; it's always lightest until the darkness dawns; why suffer tomorrow when you can suffer today and tomorrow!The latest depression-o-rama from the Northlands arrives in the "The Ox," a deliciously oppressive and crushingly lugubrious work from Ingmar Bergman's long-time cinemato- grapher, Sven Nykvist. The film will be shown tonight at 9 at the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of the 24th International Film Festival.

I write in response to Dan Rodricks ' column, "Same-sex unions: What would Jesus do?" (Oct. 25). I more or less agree with his befuddlement with the "extravagant manifestations" of modern day religious Christianity. Nevertheless, his personal opinion concerning what Jesus would do in regard to homosexual marriage runs counter to Christian doctrine. The Bible preaches repentance, not unconditional love to those in willful rebellion against God. Mr. Rodricks makes the common error of confusing God's unconditional love for those who have repented and turned to him in faith, as manifested in Christ's sacrificial death on the cross, with a generalized, sentimental acceptance of all behaviors that dismissed the evils of sin and the severity of God's response to it. This is a fatal mistake.

Dan Rodricks ' selective use of Christian teaching on homosexuality is hypocritical ("Same-sex unions: What would Jesus do?" Oct. 25). Mr. Rodricks has no problem believing that Paul's teaching of the Golden Rule is correct. But then he wants us to ignore Paul's writings on the sinful nature of homosexual acts. If Paul's teaching on homosexuality is wrong, then why should we believe any of his other teachings are right? For Christians, the homosexual act is a sin, and like all sins it is an offense against God and harmful to the person committing the sin. Thus in rejecting same-sex marriage, Christians are living the Golden Rule by showing their love for God and neighbor.

I appreciated Dan Rodricks ' insightful and compassionate column on the arguments against marriage equality being made by some church leaders, based on parts of the Bible that condemn homosexuality as "an abomination worthy of death" ("Same-sex unions: What would Jesus do?" Oct. 25). As a student of the Old Testament, I examined the Book of Leviticus, from which that phrase is drawn, as well as other parts of the Bible. Sure enough, a man lying with another man commits a mortal sin. But lo and behold: In the Book of Exodus, working on the Sabbath is also a mortal sin. Elsewhere in Leviticus, a man who eats shellfish or pork, or cuts his hair and beard, also commits acts worthy of death.

Dan Rodricks ("Same sex unions: What would Jesus do?" Oct. 25) ventured all over the map in trying to discredit the Christian view about homosexuality. First, he tried to imply that the Christian view is that homosexuals should be put to death. I don't know of any Christians who think homosexuals should be put to death. Although Dan was all over the map concerning Christianity, lets just stick to the subject, homosexuality and same-sex unions. I don't know of a single major religion that condones sexual relations between two men or two women.

I read Jeff Kanyar's letter "For same-sex unions" (Oct. 14) which argues that since the Catholic Church acknowledges gays and lesbians exist, that this "thereby freed them from the burden of sin. " Where did the Church say that their sin is "freed" because they are acknowledged? Will he also acknowledge that murderers exist? And does this free them from their crimes? Thomas Bateman, Lutherville

Sinful Colors, a Revlon-owned nail-polish line, is warning state regulators of 117 layoffs in Beltsville as it closes the Prince George's County facility next year. The layoffs, set to begin Jan. 1, appear to be the Maryland manufacturing cuts that Revlon said in September would be coming as part of a global reorganization eliminating 250 jobs. The company would not say then how many layoffs would hit Maryland, or where its local manufacturing operations were located. State officials and a number of local economic development representatives said they didn't know the facility's location — even the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp.

PETER EDWARD Rose's many baseball accomplishments are well-documented in the Baseball Hall of Fame, so the outcry over his lack of representation is a little out of whack. Charlie Hustle was generous during his long, storied career, delivering all kinds of memorabilia to Cooperstown - except, of course, the bat he used to break Ty Cobb's hits record, one of his World Series rings and the Hickok Belt he won in 1975. He sold these items to bookies. But the story of baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y., definitely includes Rose, even if his official induction and plaque do not exist.

MICHAEL MILKEN, in the eyes of the public, enjoys the moral status of a mass murderer, somewhere between Richard Speck and Adolf Hitler. There is general outrage that the proposed judicial settlement on more than 150 civil suits against Mr. Milken leaves him with $125 million, and his immediate family with more than $300 million, and also that he will serve "only" 40 months out of a possible 10-year jail term. Apparently stripping Mr. Milken of 90 percent of his wealth and putting him in prisMurray N.Rothbardon for nearly four years is akin to letting a murderer go free.

Both the WWE and World Heavyweight champions walked out of Sunday's Night of Champions pay-per-view with their titles in tow. Sheamus cleanly put away his rival Alberto Del Rio, while CM Punk retained his title after a controversial double-pin with John Cena. But as Paul Heyman was quick to point out on tonight's Raw, in a situation like that, the champion is to be declared the winner. Both challengers, though, laid claim to another shot at the title, so General Manager AJ Lee put all four men in a tag team match that she said could have ramifications on who could possibly get a rematch.

I am sure Fox News will take some flak for naming the Navy SEAL who wrote about the killing of Osama bin Laden under a pseudonym. It's already getting pretty heavy on Twitter following a tweet from Richard Engel, NBC's foreign correspondent, saying: "Al qaeda supporters in chat rooms call for death of Navy SEAL author. " But there is no legitimate journalistic controversy here -- at least, insofar as it involves Fox revealing that the former Navy SEAL who wrote the book "No Easy Day" under the pseudonym Mark Owen is 36-year-old Matt Bissonnette.