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Along with letters we've received commenting on recent articles have been a substantial number reflecting readers' deep dismay over the shootings in Littleton, Colorado. While many words of self-examination and analysis have been written about this tragedy, Christians seem especially disturbed. For example, commenting on what he called "The Massacre of Values," Kansas pastor Frederick Kornis observed that "if we are at all sad or concerned about the outrageous behavior of the Trench Coat Mafia and the likes, we must individually confess our own outrageous idolatry of worshiping the secular over the spiritual." Don't miss our commentary in this issue's editorial ("The Long Road After Littleton," p. 32). And if you missed the CT article by Lt. Col. David Grossman (Aug. 8, 1998, p. 30) on how society is training our children to kill, you can find it on the Web (ChristianityToday.com/ct/8t9).

Good Grief! Funeral Directors Deserve Credit
* With a broad brush dipped in tar, Lauren Winner takes a gleeful and slanderous swipe at the local mortician, painting the funeral industry in shades of deception and opportunistic greed ["Death, Inc.," April 26]. While I can respect Winner's preference for the do-it-yourself approach to funerals, most folks I deal with as a small-town pastor would rather eat chalk than prepare their dead mother for burial. They deeply appreciate the services offered by a skilled funeral director who is compassionate, honest, and extremely helpful at a time when most folks have all they can do simply to grieve. Funeral directors get called out at all hours of the night, often work around the clock, and are there to assist people in dealing with the most stressful experience in life, the death of a loved one. They deserve to make an honest profit for their work. No doubt there are some crooks in the trade, but Winner is wrong to paint such a bleak picture of a respectable profession.

Harlen D. Menk
Ellsworth, Wis.

* God uniquely put me in a funeral home as a counselor to families for a year while I was in between ministries. It was not my desire to be there, but I now see the experience as a major training time by the Lord for my role as a pastor. I never saw then, nor in any of the following years since then, any "kick-backs" to pastors or others. I have not seen abusive pressures to sell more expensive caskets or higher priced service (although I am sure that is done—just as I am sure there may be some pastors who take money from the church improperly).

Rev. Milt Davis
Oxnard, Calif.

Your magazine's long-established credibility in our minds has been destroyed. This article reflects minimal research and a biased perspective that leads to conclusions that are totally inaccurate and invalid. It is an insult totally unworthy of a publication of your standing.

The cited practice of the writer's Methodist minister friend is illegal, and I question the ethics of the pastor involved, not only the "undertaker." They are both wrong, and this is not a normal part of the business.

I am a third generation family funeral director. As a graduate of Wheaton College and the University of Minnesota School of Mortuary Science, I have served my community for more than 45 years and have assisted in arranging and directing more than 15,000 funeral services.

Ralph H. Albinson
Eden Prairie, Minn.

As the early twentieth century gave way to the Depression, my grandfather made his way to a small town in southwestern Pennsylvania by the name of Hyndman. There he met his wife, raised three children, and built a then-small funeral home into a successful, thriving business. He gained the town's love and respect, not for the position he held, but for the person he was. When I was 8, my family moved to Hyndman, and my father began the work of becoming a funeral director.

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June 14 1999, Vol. 43, No. 7