Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Many will say, as they always do when talking about this pope, that ``he simply doesn't understand our American culture.'' I say he understands our culture all too well. He knows our great democratic tradition. He also knows how we've fallen from a once-believing nation to a self-centered one, even using the Constitution to underwrite such sins as abortion and homosexuality. He knows how our great Christian tradition is infected by a moral relativism that seeks to undermine truth itself. The pope, in his latest encyclical letters, systematically and brilliantly defends the sanctity of life and the existence of an absolute moral truth. His message is clear: Repent, America, and live the gospel of life! Don't be conformed to our ``culture of death.''
Most Americans will be indifferent to this message, and many Catholics will ignore it, waiting for a more ``progressive'' pope. For the true Catholic Christian, the voice of John Paul II is the voice of Christ, speaking as the conscience of our modern world. He isn't an autocrat, forcing his personal beliefs on others, but like Saint Paul, an ardent defender of the truth, ``preaching the word, in season and out of season.''
My hope for this visit is that the American people will examine their consciences, listen to John Paul II, take his message to heart, and not be like Pontius Pilate, who, in asking Christ ``what is truth,'' turned and walked away.
CRAIG S. MASON
FOREST
Rename Medicare proposal
THE PROPOSED Republican Party's ``Medicare Preservation Act'' needs to be renamed so that voters can understand the real intent of their proposal.
The true name should be the ``Medicare Destruction Act.''
HERBERT M. McCALL JR.
ROANOKE
Scenic views will be destroyed
WE ARE not impressed with the public-relations effort that Roanoke County and developers, such as Len Boone, are making to assuage the horrors of destroying the scenic beauty of our area's surroundings (Sept. 27 article, ``Parkway view clear in new subdivision plan'').
We can forgive Boone; after all, he's a businessman who desires to make (big) profits by developing areas that are appealing and will easily sell. What we don't understand, and can't abide, is the county's short-sighted grasp of the situation.
Roanoke County is willing to cozy up to developers using the argument of ``best and highest'' use of land. But what's going to be the county's recourse after it exploits and destroys its nonrenewable natural resources such as scenic views?
The county seems to want to plunge headlong into maximum development of Southwest County to the denigration of those factors that have made it desirable in the first place. It's too bad county planners are adopting a Northern Virginia attitude of indiscriminate development. (Of course, the majority of county planners and administrators are Northern Virginia transplants.)
Growth and development in themselves aren't negative, but caving in to influential builders doesn't serve the best interests of the majority of current county citizens.
DALE and JOAN FURBISH
ROANOKE
May the Lord have mercy on our souls
I AM A premeditated killer. I am a Virginian.
Some argue that capital punishment is a deterrent to premeditated killing. It isn't. Capital punishment encourages, excuses and rationalizes it. And worse, it makes killers of us all.
I don't know whether Dennis Stockton was guilty. I do know the rest of us are. And no excuses nor rationalizations can wash his blood from our hands.
May the Lord have mercy on our Virginia souls, for we know not what we do. Amen.
JAMES SOLOMON
BUCHANAN
by CNB