Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993 TAG: 9306030044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A lot of you write to me when I've ticked you off. Thankfully, many others write when they agree with something I've written.
Now I want you to write to enlighten me -- and the rest of our readers -- for no particular reason.
The Door, a Christian satire magazine I've raved about in this column, in each issue dares its readers to send in wild, wacky, poignant or sentimental items on a particular subject.
A recent issue asked readers to tell where they found "Truth" in an unexpected place.
Capital-T Truths -- if we acknowledge there may be many Truths -- might pop up in a movie, a rock song, a politician's speech. . . . OK, don't spend a lot of time searching through politicians' speeches, but you get the idea.
A couple of examples from the The Door's readers:
A Washington couple couldn't argue with the revelation they found on the back of a Japanese-made alarm clock: "Thank you to perfection of alarming device. You are never awake when you are asleep."
A Louisville, Ky., man wrote: "This comes from the movie, `Marked for Death.' It was said by the Jamaican drug lord, Screwface. He said, `Everybody want to go to heaven, nobody want dead.' "
A Waco, Texas, man quoted singer/songwriter Don Henley's song, "Heart of the Matter": "I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter, But the flesh is weak and the ashes will scatter, But I think it's about forgiveness . . . "
Now's your chance. Grab your pencils, pens or computer keyboards and write down your own examples of unexpected Truths.
We'll print the best ones we receive, making the contributors famous.
We'll award a Roanoke Times & World-News beach towel for the one I judge to be the best entry -- making that contributor both famous and rich.
Be quick about it. Entries must be in my hands by 5 p.m. Monday, June 14, and I'll write about them in the June 20 column. Address them to The Back Pew, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how some leaders of the Religious Right have found Bill Clinton to be a perfect fund-raising foil. His election actually may have helped conservative religious organizations motivate their followers to send in donations.
Well, it turns out that groups on the other end of the political/religious spectrum know how to play that game, too.
American's United for the Separation of Church and State, a religious liberty group, recently sent potential contributors a four-page, single-spaced letter.
How did the agency attempt to motivate donors? Here's the first sentence:
"By the time you receive my letter, it may be official: Jerry Falwell is back."
Throughout the letter, archenemy Falwell is the key opponent. In fact, reading the letter, you might think Americans United has no mission other than countering Jerry Falwell, who seems to be the greatest danger now facing the nation.
Basking in the glow of its successful fight to block Falwell's Liberty University from getting tax-free industrial revenue bonds, the letter says American's United "is fighting his attempts to get state aid" for the university.
They lost that one this week as the school's students remained eligible for tuition-assistance grants.
"It's up to Americans United to unmask the real Jerry Falwell" who fears that agency "most," the letter says.
Falwell's "entire public career has been a tangled web of untruths, deception and hate-mongering," the letter said.
Naturally, to stop Falwell's "juggernaut" against "abortion, public schools, gays, feminists," Americans United needs your money.
"Our Job Just Got Bigger . . . Our Challenge Just Got Harder . . . Our Work Just Got More Costly."
"P.S. Please do not underestimate Falwell. Tens of thousands of misguided Americans contribute to his cause."
Americans United, like the religious groups who use Clinton's record to raise funds, has a right to state its case and seek support.
Americans United, like many religious groups, does good work and provides a valuable service for many.
Perhaps the kind of tactics they and their opponents must resort to when seeking donations is more a reflection on us than on the fund-raisers.
Are we so jaded, so numbed, that only vitriolic, name-calling, body-punching appeals will move us to throw a few bucks to these groups?
Sadly, I suspect we are. Don't appeal to me with reason, just make me mad.
Finally, to "a concerned grandmother" who wrote the editors of The Door magazine to tell them you decided not to subscribe when I said in a column that the word "sh--" appears occasionally:
It was just an example of the magazine's non-traditional approach. Honest. I've only seen the word a couple of times in three years.
Come by sometime and I'll show you a few back issues.
Cody Lowe reports on issues of religion and ethics for this newspaper.
by CNB