LETTERS.

God ... a Rams Fan?

I RECEIVED MY January-February 2001 Sojourners yesterday, and I love the new look and the beautiful colors. I also like "Between the Lines" and "News Bites" and the fact that the letters to the editor are all visible at one time across two pages (I don't know why that makes a difference, but it does). The content was typical Sojourners: high quality. Of course, my opinion was not swayed in the least with the Rams featured on the cover!

Peggy Kruse St. Louis, Missouri

Keeping It Real?

I JOIN THE CHORUS of readers who applaud the remodeling of Sojourners. The new feel and attitude invite a different category of reader and adds freshness to the reading experience. No doubt this bold new step will reap benefits in manifold ways.

I was disheartened, however, to see that part of the renovation effort included a regrettable step backward in taste. A house ad for subscriptions featured an empty roll of toilet paper with the caption "Need more?" At the very least, readers like me are puzzled as to why a magazine of "faith, politics, and culture" would invoke such images in its pages, while simultaneously decrying the decline of decency in our media culture. If such an ad appeared in Esquire or Cosmo, I would be disturbed, but not surprised. When it appeared in Sojourners, I was both.

I love your magazine and look forward to each issue, but I sincerely hope that "new Sojo" is not jumping on the hipper-than-thou bandwagon at the expense of the values that it has advocated for the last 30 years.

Chris Pieper Austin, Texas

Softer Sojourners?

HAS SOJOURNERS GONE soft? That's what I wondered after I read Holly Liebowitz' article on the "Responsible Wealth" movement ("What's Right With This Picture?" January February 2001). Indeed, I'm glad many wealthy persons are aligning themselves with liberal politics but overall, this article (and especially the picture of the [Rolls Royce] and its bumper sticker Tax the Rich) was an appalling legitimization of wealth. The wealth of so many in our nation and the capitalism and consumerism that undergirds it oppresses the earth and most of its inhabitants. In fact, being rich does impede the pursuit of social justice.

Paul Krenzelok, Duluth, Minnesota

Middle East Peace

I WOULD LIKE to copy your article "A Cry for Atonement" (by Rabbi Michael Lerner, January-February 2001) and send it to all the lawmakers who make a difference in the Middle East situation. When I was there last year as part of a Presbyterian women's exchange, I began to understand the frustration of the Palestinians ... their lack of free access to do things like go to doctors, find a new job, add on to their own homes, and protect their homes from bulldozers.

I saw a government with a great deal of power and a good deal of money ($1 billion in aid every year from the United States) which acted as if it was scared of a people who have so little. I sat in church basements with women who had to flee from their homes years ago and were never reimbursed. That article is a good one, trying to reflect reason for both sides.

Barbara Epley-Shuck Whitesboro, New York 

The Morning After

THE EXIT POLLS ("Between the Lines," January-February 2001) taken on the morning after the election were most revealing. I find it sobering that when asked "which issues mattered most," very few Americans mentioned the environment. How long will it take our nation to realize that a healthy environment is inextricably linked with a healthy economy, healthcare, and world affairs?

Bob Blackburn Berlin, Wisconsin

Yeah, But is It Art?

TAG EVERS' ARTICLE on Contemporary Christian Music ("Fiddling While Rome Burns," January-February 2001) reminded me of a long debated question among those of us in the actual biz: Is it entertainment or is it ministry? I host a Christian hard rock radio show here in Jacksonville, and last year I tried to answer that question on my show. My thesis is simple: Contemporary Christian Music is entertainment that ministers and ministry that entertains. The two are inseparable, and to say you must have one without the other is akin to having a coin with only one side.

I'll admit there is a lot of fluff in the CCM scene and there is much more in the countless records we don't play. When there is so much product, simple economics comes into play and quality is diluted. There is meaningful CCM out there; acts like Sarah Masen, Adam Again, Delirious, Everyday Life, and U2 keep me listening for their good music and for a message that goes deeper than the shallow pop on your average top 40 station.

John Maycumber WIOJ Radio Jacksonville, Florida

Racial Reconciliation?

YOUR `GRACE MATTERS' by Chris Rice ("Is That Racism on Your Shoe?" November-December 2000) was interesting. If Chris Rice is honest and credible, he should marry a black person to prove it. If he is already married, then their children should be forced to marry black people. These actions will help promote Rice's theory and lend credence to this preposterous philosophy!

Stanley Lorencki Medford, Oregon

To the Heart

WRITING `FAN LETTERS' is not something I do, yet after reading through all of your November-December 2000 issue of Sojourners I felt so grateful to you that I want to share my feelings. I like just about all of your issues, but this one is especially good. Your articles are well written, provide excellent information, and speak to my heart.

Celeste King Haiku, Hawaii

If the Shoe Fits

I FOUND YOUR article on "Virtual Hate" (by Stacia Brown, September-October 2000). Would you care to comment on how my Web site came to be listed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as an "Anti-Government Hate Site," along with Women Against Gun Control and a bunch of other RKBA ["Right to Keep and Bear Arms"]-oriented Web sites, including a link to the NRA Museum?

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has withdrawn the Web page under pressure, but you can find some history and a copy of the SWC page at my Web site, "Geoff's Firearms and Freedoms Page." You'll be hard pressed, I'm sure, to understand how some of those sites came to earn the Wiesenthal swastika-of-shame.

Geoff Coelho New City, New York 

Stacia Brown replies:

Coelho's Web site isn't one that I had researched, but my brief foray into it tells me that it's quite deserving of its place on the Wiesenthal Center's list. The heading under the Web site name is: "POKING AN ITCHY TRIGGER FINGER INTO THE EYES OF EFFETE LIBERAL SNOBS SINCE APRIL, 1997 And the Home of Freedom on Film, the Internet's Premier Amature [sic] Picture Post for Gun Owners." There is certainly room on the Internet for gun owner advocates, for conservatives, for people who don't like Hillary Clinton, etc. But where I start to get nervous is when we bring the gun rhetoric and the hate rhetoric together. The title itself indicates a violent stance--even if meant in partial jest. You don't have to put a swastika on your Web site to qualify as a site that promotes a violently intolerant stance.

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