Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9312270284
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As you pointed out, the transportation tax package, promoted by Gov. Baliles and passed during his administration, was suppose to cure our transportation funding needs for well into the 21st century. It's troubling that these projections seem to have been in error, especially since inflation - one of the regular excuses for greater government spending - has been lower than expected during this time.
The general public seems to be unaware that the special and regressive motor-fuel taxes are now extraordinarily high compared to those on other essentials. Gas taxes on regular gasoline, at current retail prices, are now equivalent to a sales tax in excess of 52 percent in Virginia. If this kind of tax were suggested for milk or bread, there would be rebellion in the streets, or at least at the ballot box. However, oppressive motor-fuel taxes are apparently acceptable to many public officials and opinion makers. They don't seem to realize that a tax on motor transportation adds directly to the cost of milk and bread, as well as virtually all other consumer goods and services. These taxes also make it more expensive to attend community colleges, recreational and cultural activities, to go on vacations and attend to hundreds of other activities associated with our lifestyles here.
Gov.-elect Allen was prudent in his decision regarding this matter and this newspaper is wise in endorsing it.
J. ROBERT JUSTICE
ROANOKE
Good things come from drugs
I WAS ANGERED greatly when I read the Dec. 8 front-page Los Angeles Times news article about the surgeon general wanting to consider legalizing drugs (``Make drugs legal, surgeon general says''). The thing that infuriated me was when these so-called critics suggested that Joycelyn Elders be fired.
I support Elders' idea to consider the legalization of marijuana and other drugs. Its legalization could solve many problems, not only the crime rate. I wonder if these critics, or even the president himself, know the good things that can come from certain drugs such as marijuana. Maybe the critics should take off their blindfolds and open their eyes. As for Clinton, maybe he should have inhaled.
JACKSON DECKER
CHRISTIANSBURG
Other scholars have different view
AS THE article of Dec. 12, ``Gospels give wrong picture of Jesus, scholars say'' by David Crum of Knight-Ridder Newspapers, correctly notes, some biblical scholars have been saying for years that the gospels do not report accurately what Jesus said, and that scholars must decide what Jesus did and did not say. The new book that the article mentioned is really not all that new.
It's also true that there are other scholars, equally as learned in the original languages and in the history of the first century, who believe that what the gospels report are accurate accounts of what Jesus did and said.
It was very interesting to me that the Jesus Seminar sees Jesus as a social revolutionary rather than apocalyptic visionary, because prior searchers for the ``historical Jesus'' have many times ended up with a Jesus who basically reflected their own philosophy of life.
DAVID McCARTY
ROCKY MOUNT
Don't judge system by its failures
THE STRONGLY biased Nov. 28 Associated Press article, ``States override religion,'' does manage to bring an important issue to the surface. Will the state encroach upon the family so far as to regulate parents' right to pray for their children? Actually, it's already happening.
Christian Scientists have a century-long record of evidence that scientific prayer heals serious diseases. There are those who don't believe prayer really heals and feel that secular medicine should be the only recourse for healing. They focus repeatedly on seven cases in the past decade in which children suddenly died while under Christian Science treatment.
Christian Scientists grieve over the death of a child under any system of healing. But they ask: Should a successful system of healing be judged exclusively by its failures? If so, what is one to say of traditional medicine when a half-million children died under medical care during the same decade? No method of healing has healed 100 percent of its cases. Yet, it appears that Christian Scientists are being singled out to meet that standard.
Citizens who believe in the power of prayer and the right to exercise it should ask themselves: Will the practice of my own religious beliefs be the next to come under attack? No established religious belief has much value if the responsible practice of it is disallowed.
EVANS RICHARDSON
ROANOKE
Sword didn't represent Jesus
I RECENTLY attended the Christmas Pageant presented at First Baptist Church in Roanoke. I thoroughly enjoyed the music. Both the orchestra and the choir were truly magnificent.
I was, however, appalled when at the end of the story of Jesus' life (as presented in the pageant), Jesus was shown coming from his tomb with a sword in his hand, striking and slaying the character of Satan. I was appalled by this misrepresentation of Jesus Christ. This is the same man who said, ``Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword'' and ``Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.''
To me the entire point of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection was that Christ triumphed, not by resisting or fighting evil but by standing in God's truth, which is love, at all costs, even at the expense of his physical life.
It truly saddens me that many of the churches today really do seem to teach that they're doing God's work when they take up the sword and angrily attack those who don't live, or believe, as they do. Is this really what Jesus tried to teach us? I think not.
SUSAN P. HIGHFILL
ROANOKE
by CNB