Readers Write

Wacky Weed Verdict

Reasonable people can disagree on whether marijuana is good medicine for a particular patient. Doctors disagree with each other on all kinds of medical choices. But we don’t put them or their patients in jail for having a difference of opinion—except in the case of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is an issue of mercy. That is why it’s so important for Christians. Jesus broke the laws of his time to heal people. Can you imagine having to choose between suffering and breaking the law? Luckily, we can change bad laws. That’s why a number of religious groups have spoken out in favor of medical marijuana and/or in opposition to federal interference in states that allow it. When the United Methodist Church (which includes many conservative evangelicals, including President George W. Bush) voted on a medical marijuana resolution in 2004, it passed 877-19.

Rob Moll’s online article today is embarrassing. Reading it, one might be excused for thinking that the Supreme Court’s decision concerned the prudence of the federal ban on marijuana. Instead, the issue before the Court was the extent of Congress’s enumerated powers. While I decline to offer my own opinion on that central question, I need to point out that Christianity Today and Ms. LaRue do not trouble themselves with it—a brief nod is made to the issue of “states’ rights”—as they issue their pontifical edict on the efficacy and nuances of federal marijuana regulation. Judging a Supreme Court decision according to the desirability of the policy considered is a sophomoric blunder. The Supreme Court is not empowered to make policy decisions. Rather, it is tasked with interpreting the policy decisions of the other two branches and ensuring that those decisions do not exceed constitutional boundaries. On a few notable occasions, the Court has (arguably) exceeded its mandate and substituted its own collective wisdom for the judgment of the American electorate. On those occasions, evangelicals have decried the Court’s activism, with good reason. Yet here is the chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, without any detectable sense of irony, ratifying an activist justification for a Supreme Court decision because she agrees with the policy that the Court upheld. It makes one want to crawl under a pew. If evangelicals are to have any credibility when castigating the third branch for its excesses, we must demonstrate consistency and intelligence. We cannot be in favor of arguably activist decisions when the outcome suits us and opposed to such usurpations when the result offends our sensibilities.

Colson on Deep Throat

Charles Colson’s statements in CT regarding W. Mark Felt’s identity as Deep Throat are an interesting example of argumentum ad populum, a style of argumentation which appeals to the assumed prejudices of the reader, rather than focusing on the merits of the case. By using hot button words such as relativism and postmodernism, he deflects the reader’s attention away from the degree of corruption present in the Nixon White House, which would have made it nearly impossible for Mr. Felt to have done what Mr. Colson thinks would have been the ‘honorable’ thing to do, namely to go to the director of the FBI. It should be noted that the White House took actions to interfere with the FBI’s investigations. If Mr. Felt had gone to his superior with his concerns, I do think that such action would have sparked “an immediate crisis,” but not the kind that Mr. Colson suggests. I suspect Mr. Felt’s position would have been in jeopardy, not the Nixon administration. We Christians should judge Mr Felt’s actions only if we place those actions in historical context, a context marked by political corruption at the highest levels of government.

I think it is shameful that Charles Colson is still trying to justify his actions. Charles Colson has no moral right to comment on these matters, and your magazine should not support him in his self-righteous justification. Had it not been for people like Charles Colson, Felt might not have had to take the actions that he did.

Colson’s remarks regarding Mark Felt’s culpability (or not) for the choices he made in leaking information to Woodward and Bernstein sound just a bit like the self-justification he condemns in Felt. Suggesting that the Nixon White House would have acted honorably, even out of ‘self-interest’, is rewriting much of what was going on in those dark days for our country.

Yoga Wars

You have absolutely got to be kidding the world and the Christian church. This article sets the standard for Christian folly. Have you been to India? Go there and see what yoga/Hinduism has produced. Worship poses to demon gods. And you say, “Yes to Yoga” for Christians? You people have lost your minds. Where is your discernment? Have you not read that God commands us to not be like ‘the nations’ who worship false gods? I have sat with several Christians in a church office and listened to their horror stories about how Kundalini yoga manifestations have destroyed their minds and lives. Sadly you people think yoga is safe. My exhortation to you would be to spend 30 minutes on the internet and look up the hazards of Yoga. Get the truth from the gurus themselves in their own books and websites. And you say it is ok. Ouch!

No to Yoga! I am an Indian. I was born and raised in India. I grew up around people who did yoga every morning. We had yoga on TV every morning. Yoga is intrinsically tied to Hindu mysticism. Every position is a worship posture. Although I am a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament studies, many people ask me questions about yoga. My reply to them has been, “Don’t open yourself to yoga, because it is opening yourself to Satan’s devices.” Christians in India have always been wary of yoga.

I have never understood the position some take that there is nothing wrong with yoga. My understanding is that yoga has its foundation in Hinduism. Wouldn’t the moves and breathing techniques become a method of placing an idol into your spirit? My understanding of being a Christian is belief in only one God—the true God and only his presence in your spirit.

Thank you for this article! I was so bothered by the previous article, which, to me, insinuated that anyone who did the yoga poses/stretches would fall into the clutches of Satan and idol worship. Not so. I agree with today’s article 100 percent. Thanks for posting both opinions on this topic.

How sad to publish an article that demeans one Christian’s testimony of how yoga affected her life and how God brought her through it. She should have been congratulated for sharing her testimony rather than criticized and ridiculed.

Schiavo

We all know that the medical examiner’s report on Terri Schiavo’s autopsy was given in a politically charged context. Although the autopsy offers helpful analysis of Schiavo’s physical condition, it cannot resolve the deeper issues related to this case. It would be nothing short of medical deception to use an autopsy to justify or mitigate intentional death by dehydration of a brain-damaged person. Terri Schiavo was not a dying person; she was a dependent one. Her life was sustained by the relatively ordinary, low-tech treatment of a feeding tube. As a society, we must continue to explore questions about our moral and civic duties as caregivers for the incapacitated members of our communities. We also must turn the focus of medical ethics on the question of how we determine whether a life is viable and worth defending.

The Jedi Myth

Dick Staub refers to Christianity as “the prevailing myth of Western culture.” The apostles knew about myth, and they clearly distinguished myth from truth. Our postmodern culture teaches our children that only myth exists. Calling some myth true, explicitly contradicts the Scriptures. At the very least, it obscures the very notion of truth. As if the enemies of the truth that is our faith did not have enough help, Christianity Today is lending them a vitally important helping hand.

Christian College Renaissance

Michael Hamilton’s article on the renaissance in Christian higher education is insightful and encouraging. Having almost seen American churches and church colleges gone “full circle,” it is encouraging that so many Christian institutions are recovering from liberal secularism and coming out stronger and more faithful.