LETTERS TO L.A. LIFE : CREDIBILITY IN DANGER OF GOING UP IN SMOKE.

I thought you knew better, with all those articles on health and tobacco.

So, why does the Daily News glamorize and promote cigar smoking by using it as a prop for a women's fashion shoot and prominently displaying the photos on the cover as well as inside the L.A. Life section? Just because the fashions are men-styled suits?

I wonder if these photographers/stylists saw the gum and mouth cancers from tobacco that rot and disfigure even the most gorgeous face? Would they find them less attractive, or would it not matter as long as they were fashionably dressed?

The tobacco interests behind the huge hype of cigars in recent years are using many Hollywood names to make this product fashionable.

Just remember if you are someone newly fashionable smoking a cigar, you are one of those the tobacco industry has snared using the media, your own money and your health. And those just posing have sold out their integrity, along with their name value.

Winifred Meiser

- Quartz Hill

A case of misdirected condemnation?

I find it interesting how the White House, through Hillary Clinton, can condemn Julia Roberts' smoking on the big screen while at the same time praising Ellen DeGeneres' lesbian kiss on the small screen.

I absolutely do not support smoking. Of course it is deadly. But what is more deadly? This administration is being supportive in an area where the bigger fight should be fought.

Chris Hemrick

- Edwards

Making a religion of hating religion

The letter by Jon Nelson, co-president of Atheists United, reveals how some people make a religion of hating religion.

Nelson cited centuries-old events involving some religious individuals (Crusades, Inquisition) as his excuse for condemning all religions and their followers.

If studying history has a practical purpose, it should be to help us learn how to avoid repeating our ancestors' mistakes, not to feed angry indignation and a phony sense of moral superiority. But I doubt if this appeal to reason will reach organized atheists who are determined to force their beliefs on others.

We've seen how such groups as the Communists and Nazis attempted that, claiming they had ``scientific'' systems to build perfect societies. In the 20th century alone, more people were murdered, enslaved, tortured and otherwise made miserable in the name of science than all the victims of all the so-called religious wars of history.

If Nelson and his friends ever obtain power, they'll probably do the same thing while promising us paradise on Earth if we'll give up our religious ``superstitions'' and accept whatever doctrine they preach.

Bill Starr

- Burbank

Part of Denver's sunshine blocked by tragedy

A dark cloud has blocked a part of John Denver's sunshine. The folk, country and pop writer lost his life doing what the thing he loved most, next to making people happy with his music.

President Clinton said, ``His soaring music evoked the grandeur of our landscape and the simple warmth of human love.''

Denver's record sales ranked him third in the RCA catalog, behind Elvis Presley and a soundtrack compilation album.

Denver had an international following of people who loved him and his music. His down-home country boy charm, boyish grin, granny glasses and talent will be missed.

- Fran Jones

Simi Valley 

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Photo: John Denver 

Died doing what he loved