ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9609030013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
THE LACK of critical-thinking skills is an all-too-common problem today. This lack is clearly evidenced by Ed Lynch's Aug. 24 letter to the editor (``Thanks to Goodlatte for `tinkering''') concerning religious freedom and the Constitution. Lynch argues that liberal judges have amended and distorted the Constitution so completely that the courts now protect pornographic bookstores while prohibiting Nativity scenes. This reasoning is specious and misleading.
Nativity scenes and other manifestations of faith are permitted and protected on private property. They are not permitted on public property such as schools and government offices. Neither are pornographic bookstores.
As a matter of fact, adult bookstores (which are commercial, for-profit enterprises) are subject to a variety of restrictions designed to balance the competing interests of freedom of expression with the desire to protect the interests of people who are offended by pornography. There are virtually no restrictions on the freedom of religious expression on private property. The reason separation of church and state is kept inviolate is to protect the rights of the minority to express their religious faith.
One function of the judicial system in a democracy is to protect the minority against the ``tyranny of the majority.'' Christians are the majority in the United States today. Lynch is correct in saying that liberals are frightened of the religious right. I don't trust them. Their arguments are deliberately fallacious and misleading, and are designed to appeal to people's prejudices and fears.
DRUCILLA K. BARKER
ROANOKE
Let's round up more Virgil Goodes
IF EVERYTHING Margie Fisher says in her column (Aug. 18, ``What might D.C. make of Goode - and vice versa?'') about Virgil Goode is true, then by all means we should send him to Washington. And anyone else we can find with his qualifications.
JESSE C. HUBBARD
ROCKY MOUNT
Must SPCA close to be appreciated?
AS A MEMBER and spokesman for the League for Animal Protection, I wish to voice our sincere disappointment that Roanoke City Council and the Planning Commission turned down the rezoning request of the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Aug. 20 article, ``SPCA zoning denied'').
Apparently some people in this community do not realize the great service done by the employees and volunteers who donate countless hours trying to clear the streets, highways and alleys of homeless animals that many thoughtless citizens are too lazy or ignorant to care for.
I believe if the SPCA closed its doors tomorrow due to the lack of support that it seems to be receiving from some Roanoke Valley residents, we might then begin to appreciate the thankless and heartbreaking tasks that it performs daily.
No one seems to want this facility in his or her neighborhood, yet we accept the noise, smells and pollution of fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and traffic that we constantly encounter in our daily lives.
The League for Animal Protection wants to make it clear that, although we have a different type of facility in that we do not euthanize any animal except in extremely exceptional cases, we support the SPCA in its efforts to provide a better location for the homeless and stray animals. We wish to remind City Council members who voted against the rezoning that it's better to be party to the solution than to be part of the problem.
KEN DALASKI
ROANOKE
Sen. Dodd gets no A for accuracy
I LISTENED to Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut nominate William Jefferson Clinton for president of the United States. No surprise, but his speech did contain some surprises in the nature of deliberate misrepresentation.
The Democratic National Convention includes many delegates who are teachers. That's a profession I respect, having been a teacher and, after finishing my doctorate, hoping to be one again. Why do these teachers cheer deliberate misrepresentations? Two logical errors for which teachers are always on the lookout are ``post hoc, ergo propter hoc'' (``after this, therefore because of this'') and ``argumentum ad misercordium'' (``argument toward pity'').
For example, if Clinton is president during a less-than-vibrant economic recovery, is he responsible (and thus to be thanked) for the recovery or for the less than vibrancy of it? Of course, if the recovery is called the best in the past three decades, the lie covers the logical fallacy. And all is well, so says Dodd.
And Dodd's call for us to pity Clinton's ``family'' for the awful attacks made upon it misses the point that the attacks have been directed at Mrs. Clinton for her involvement in specific matters - not at the Clintons' daughter Chelsea, not at the Clintons as a family.
Many Americans look forward to the day when parties in partisan debate can distinguish hyperbole from falsehood.
AVENT C. BECK
GLASGOW
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB