To the Editor:
Re “‘Have Mercy’ on Migrants, Bishop Asks of President” (information article, Jan. 22):
I used to be disillusioned however not stunned to see the spiritual figures on the inauguration reasonably obsequiously bow to our new chief government of their so-called “prayers.”
Nevertheless, I used to be pleasantly shocked to see Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde respectfully and courageously remind him of what the true message of the Scriptures is by way of compassion, respect and welcome reasonably than derision and exclusion.
Thanks, Bishop Budde, for bringing the true spiritual message throughout these difficult days.
Dave Pasinski
Fayetteville, N.Y.
The author is a former Catholic priest.
To the Editor:
There are 1000’s upon 1000’s of us in pulpits throughout the nation each Sunday preaching a message of justice and mercy.
We don’t often get the headlines as a result of we don’t preach a prosperity gospel and we don’t cozy as much as the highly effective. We aren’t splashy. We merely preach love, handle our congregations and work in our communities to attempt to make a distinction in individuals’s lives. We resettle refugees, run soup kitchens, host after-school applications and ensure individuals have winter coats.
Many because of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for being a prophetic voice. You aren’t alone; none of us are. That’s a superb factor to recollect today.
(Rev.) Pete Jones
Scarsdale, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Solely a small man would reply to Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon with such vitriol as President Trump did.
What’s he going to do subsequent? Will he problem an government order to take away the bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty just because he doesn’t like Emma Lazarus’ stirring phrases “Give me your drained, your poor. Your huddled lots craving to breathe free”?
Carol Rosen
Woodbridge, Conn.
To the Editor:
Think about being such a callous individual that you’d demand an apology from somebody asking you to point out mercy to your fellow man. President Trump is a shame.
Sara McPherson Horle
Denver
The Complexities of Ending Birthright Citizenship
To the Editor:
Re “22 States Sue to Block End to Citizenship as Birthright” (information article, Jan. 22):
Simply as a sensible matter: How will it work if native governments are quickly required to substantiate the U.S. citizenship or everlasting resident standing of a dad or mum of a new child to be able to problem an American delivery certificates to the infant?
Received’t each mom be required to show her standing, both by exhibiting her passport or her personal delivery certificates or different documentation? And if she couldn’t, then will the daddy be so required? However show he’s actually the daddy? And what occurs if somebody claims that the documentation offered is faux?
Each native authorities issuing a delivery certificates could be obligated to kind this out. Actually?
Steve Carlson
Branford, Conn.
To the Editor:
President Trump needs to finish birthright citizenship, however the 14th Modification was a response in 1868 to the immoral Dred Scott choice 11 years earlier. By no means once more would judges or politicians be capable of strip American-born individuals of their citizenship.
At present, about 300,000 children of undocumented immigrants become American citizens each year. Most of their mother and father aren’t latest arrivals, however hard-working individuals who have lived in the USA for years.
If these kids are denied U.S. citizenship, they won’t out of the blue grow to be residents of Mexico or Guatemala or wherever their mother and father are from as a result of the kids themselves have by no means lived in these locations. They are going to be stateless, with no rights in any respect. Nobody born in the USA ought to ever need to be so susceptible.
Mark Weston
Sarasota, Fla.
The author is an creator whose newest work is “Immigration: Can We Compromise?”
Report on Colleagues?
Beware the creep of authoritarianism within the authorities’s asking individuals to “report on” or denounce others. Reporting on others not concerning a criminal offense or threat to our nationwide safety or different critical risk, however merely for enacting insurance policies with which the present administration disagrees, is fallacious.
People ought to stand collectively and never let anybody set us in opposition to one another to report on co-workers.
Danielle James
Los Altos, Calif.
To the Editor:
So now federal staff aren’t simply required to swear allegiance to Donald Trump as an alternative of to the Structure. They have to additionally snitch on their co-workers or be fired.
The one civil rights are Mr. Trump’s rights. The Structure is only a piece of paper. Mr. Trump’s identify isn’t in it; due to this fact he doesn’t have to observe it.
Diane DeMarco
Joppatowne, Md.
A Highway to Autocracy
To the Editor:
Re “Are We Sleepwalking Into Autocracy?,” by Kim Lane Scheppele and Norman Eisen (Opinion visitor essay, Jan. 18):
With Donald Trump and his billionaires taking on the feckless G.O.P., the reply to the query within the headline is unquestionably sure.
That is precisely what involved Benjamin Franklin when a girl requested him what the Constitutional Conference of 1787 created — “a republic or a monarchy?” — and he replied, “A republic, in case you can hold it.”
Richard Latimer
Falmouth, Mass.
Local weather Disasters and Youngsters’s Trauma
To the Editor:
Re “American Towns Are at Risk of Tumbling Into the Ocean” (Opinion visitor essay, Jan. 7):
Stephen Lezak’s observations concerning the displacement of communities as a consequence of storms, rising seas, fires and different catastrophes spotlight the existential risk of local weather change. Whereas bodily destruction dominates headlines, the psychological toll is commonly neglected. Dropping houses, communities and methods of life causes lasting emotional trauma, reshaping lives lengthy after the disasters finish.
The influence on kids is especially extreme. Past dropping houses, faculties and friendships, they face the collapse of the security and stability important for development. Analysis from the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica reveals that these traumatic experiences can irreversibly hurt kids’s psychological well being and growth, threatening each their instant well-being and long-term potential.
Addressing local weather change should stay a precedence for policymakers — not simply to protect infrastructure or economies but additionally to guard these most susceptible. If we fail to reverse its lethal trajectory, we abandon our youngsters and younger individuals to bear its heaviest burdens. Their future, and ours, calls for pressing motion.
Leslie Davenport
San Francisco
The author leads the Certificates Coaching in Local weather Psychology on the California Institute of Integral Research.
