Columnist Thomas wrong about attack on Christianity
Contrary to Cal Thomas’ perspective on the recent Chick-Fil-A fiasco, those who choose not to continue supporting the fast-food chain are not attacking Christianity. Chick-Fil-A has operated as a Christian business since its beginning, and to my knowledge that has offended no one. This has become a political divide, not a religious one, with the confusion being that fundamentalist Christians have, since the 1970s, espoused themselves to one particular political position and are errantly taught that anyone who believes differently from them about a handful of political issues, including gay rights, is not Christian.
Nor is this an attack against freedom of speech. Chick-Fil-A has a right to speak out for or against any issue it pleases, just as those who boycott them have that right, and many of us would fight to defend that right, even for those with whose voices we disagree. When anyone speaks out, however, they should know there might be consequences, and for a business, that might translate into loss of support.
I am a devout Christian who defends anyone’s right to join Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Cal Thomas on Wednesday in long chicken sandwich lines. I hope, though, that they will know that that does not make them Christians, but rather, most likely, people who have been taught ignorantly about gay issues and gay people. I won’t be in those long lines but will choose somewhere else to “eat mor chikin” when I want it, even if I miss the waffle fries.
— Kathy Vestal
Salisbury
No real middle class
Middle class? News flash! There are no middle-class American people as we once knew them. What we have now are four different classes of people:
1. The easy-living rich who can pay cash for everything without missing a meal.
2. The moderately rich who finance everything and go heavily into debt, but they also don’t have to skip meals.
3. The struggling poor who must accept any low-paying job just to make ends meet and be able to buy what food they can afford to put on their tables.
4. The barely-getting-by poor who live in broken-down houses and do the best they can to provide food for themselves. They may or may not have a job and most don’t have their own transportation to use when seeking employment.
The economy is better? If so, then why are businesses still closing, adding more unemployment? Fact is, if all of the sewing factories, cotton mills etc. hadn’t closed down, we “poor people” would still have a place to work — a workplace that didn’t require a college education, and where employers didn’t tell job applicants they were “over qualified” (as in, too old).
Wake up, America! Political candidates may look good and talk the right talk, but it’s after they get elected that they may become rotten to the core. After all, even apples look delicious on the outside but may still be wormy on the inside.
— Ellie Mae Lambert
Salisbury