'06 Election Lesson
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey continues to make outrageous claims about social conservatives, this time arguing that Republicans lost the election because they were "overly responsive" to evangelical Christians ["Some Advice for His Own," November 20]. What kind of political leader would seek to run off millions of his friends? Even in this election, values voters played a major role in the outcome. Consider, for example, the easy passage of seven state marriage-protection amendments. The eighth in Arizona did fail, but only by a few percentage points, despite the fact that its supporters were outspent by more than 2 to 1. No, the lesson of Election '06 isn't that Republicans need to insult and ignore their conservative Christian friends; it's that they can't win when they abandon conservative principles and run as Democrats. Virginia Sen. George Allen made that mistake. He ran away from the state's marriage amendment, mentioning it only once in the closing days of his campaign. The amendment won by 328,850 votes, while Allen went down to defeat. Armey should think about this: A GOP pollster noted that 22 of the 27 races that tipped the balance of power in the House were captured by 2 percent of the vote or less; control of the Senate hinged on the razor-thin margin in the Allen race. Nevertheless, Armey thinks that the GOP should dump its Christian supporters and try to replace them with moderates. If they do, Democrats may be in power for another 40 years.
JAMES C. DOBSON, PH.D.
Founder and Chairman
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, Colo.
School Bus Safety
Regarding "A More Dangerous Ride Than You Might Think" [November 20]: Ask any school bus driver about the large percentage of time spent watching the big rearview mirror, crucial to maintaining order on the bus. Would parents put their child in a vehicle if the driver was watching the road 60 to 70 percent of the time? Yet parents do it every day when they put their child on the school bus. As a former school bus driver, I have no opinion about the possibility of seat belts on school buses, but their use cannot be controlled by the driver. Some school buses carry up to 90 youngsters. I agree that the logical answer is to put an adult monitor on the bus and, as one bus company advertises, "leave the driving to us."
FRANK B. COLLIER
Brownsburg, Ind.
Atheism Arguments
Many thanks for Jay Tolson's thoughtful "The New Unbelievers" [November 13]. What is new about the new atheism is that science is just beginning to explore religion as a natural phenomenon of the brain, not the supernatural phenomenon of gods, spirits, and demons that most people still believe it to be. Atheism is a positive and uplifting worldview. Liberation from darkness, superstition, and irrationality of religion often brings great happiness, along with a serious commitment to do what is right for our fellow humans and for our natural world--the only world there is.
JOHN C. WATHEY
San Diego
The authors of the three atheist books, Richard Dawkins [The God Delusion], Sam Harris [Letter to a Christian Nation], and Daniel Dennett [Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon], apparently reject God on the grounds that religions perpetrate actions that are harmful, and religious doctrine is incompatible with science. General relativity, quantum mechanics, and string/M theory are harder to explain without God than with God. All of nature, from quarks to human consciousness, is so exquisite and awesome that it is foolish to contend that it all came out of nowhere and evolved by chance. It did evolve, but by the laws of chemistry and physics. The God of Scripture is also the God of natural laws. Even if we live in a probabilistic universe, those probabilities operate within the constraints of intelligently designed natural laws. What we need is not to abandon religion but to modernize our understanding of God.
BILL KLEMM
Professor of Neuroscience
Texas A&M University
Bryan, Texas
Tolson writes that Dawkins "...sometimes comes close to confirming Francis Bacon's adage that a 'little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.'" Upon considering Bacon's statement for scientific confirmation, I'm at a loss. Perhaps that is why Tolson included the throwaway phrase "comes close." If so, I suggest a more enlightening addition might have been some factual statements regarding the levels of professed belief in God among current philosophers or the teaching staff in departments of philosophy. Now that would have been really interesting and might even have led to "confirmation," though I'm inclined to think not.
ROGER LILAK
Petoskey, Mich.
No one can deny that religions and religious adherents have their faults. Even so, one only has to look back on the 20th century to realize that whenever and wherever atheism prevailed, the death and destruction that followed was on an unprecedented scale. Stalin's atheistic Soviet Union and Hitler's atheistic Third Reich were responsible for millions of deaths. If history is a guide to atheistic dominance, I'd just as soon stick with the flawed faithful.
PEGGY MULLER
Riverside, Calif.
Sam Harris casts a bad light on all religious people, saying that they don't think about suffering. I disagree. Although not a model person, I am characterized by some as "religious," and I care very much about suffering. Mother Teresa was "religious" and dedicated her life to serving and trying to relieve suffering.
TARA WOLF
Barrington, Ill.
Being an atheist is a logically untenable position. If a person is absolutely certain there is no God, he/she would then know everything and would qualify for the title. I am a bit more comfortable with some assumed humility in agnosticism.
TOM BAKER
Waitsburg, Wash.
It is important to differentiate between "religion" and "faith," especially in a discussion about whether religion harms people more than helps. "Religion" is outward expression of belief in God, and "faith" is one's personal belief in God. There are plenty of people who are "religious," that is, they practice religion but do not have true faith. Religion without faith, by definition hypocritical, certainly can lead to the abuses decried by the atheists in the article. However, true and humble faith in a creative, loving, merciful, judicious, and all-powerful God inspires and empowers believers to build a better world for all people.
ALEXANDRA MEZZINA
North Andover, Mass.
Angry--Customer Rx
"Writing A New Script" [November 13] on the proposed merger of CVS Corp. and Caremark Rx was interesting and identified several risks, including "new services" outside the doctor-patient relationship. I am stuck with Caremark Rx until I go on Medicare, but there is ample opportunity to express my disgust by not using their local distributor, CVS.
SANFORD I. PEARL
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Employees I know were very happy with the Medco prescription plan, but the company switched to Caremark, which, in my case, comes with a 300 percent cost increase. Wal-Mart, here we come for $4 generic prescriptions!
JAMES BARRETT
Shawnee Mission, Kan.
This story appears in the December 4, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.