Texas Baptist Forum

Texas Baptist Forum

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Church & state

I am glad you clarified the issue of separation of church and state in your editorial (Nov. 1). I’m certain your grandchildren will be in school this Thanksgiving, which falls on a Thursday. And they will go to school throughout December while the other kids enjoy a state-sponsored religious holiday. Never mind what your grandkids say, I’m sure they love grampaw. Thank God, Christmas falls on Sunday.

Now Sunday, that brings up a question. Should the post office deliver mail on Sunday? This slippery slope has no end until religion is suppressed, which is what the Founding Fathers intended?

The wall of separation of church and state takes a far-reaching and convoluted logic based on an obscure letter. Our Founding Fathers were educated and experienced men. They meant what they said in the Constitution. If they had intended for this wall to be, they would have said so. The Constitution states “freedom of religion” not freedom from religion.

Are you going to tell the schools about no holidays? Let me know when you do. I’ve never seen a Baptist tarred and feathered.

Fred Rosenbaum

Gainesville

 

Editor’s note: The United States Constitution does not mention Christianity and only mention’s “religion” to disallow any religious tests for public office.


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None left behind

The U.S. Marine Corps and Army practice “no soldier left behind.” What is your church doing to minister to hundreds of people on the inactive roll?

And what are you doing about the ministers God sent you to serve in years gone by? Do they have a roof over their head, food to eat and medical care? How does God feel about our adulterous conduct of using people to fill our roles for that feeling of success or wearing out a minister and destroying his ministry because of his failures? In short, we are divorcing them from our mind and responsibility and leaving them behind.

When was the last time you heard someone pray for a former minister? Or the last time you sent a thank-you or Christmas card to a former servant of God?

The church I serve now as interim pastor has had 30 pastors in 90 years. The shortest stay was seven months; the longest seven years. Is it God who is always leading them away, or is it our leaving them behind because …?

Hundreds of pastors and church staff yearly leave their posts and are out on the street looking for places to live and ways to feed their families. Many are left abandoned. Who will be the redemptive heart of Christ to them?

And then there are the lost who are watching from the sidelines.

Richard L. White

Lubbock

 

 


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