Good exclusivity
Again the Journal got it wrong. In the July 21 "Scorecard" column ("A gay ban and a cooperative effort"), you used misguided thinking to condemn the Boy Scouts of America for upholding its ban on gay membership.
The Scouts has every right to refuse to admit anyone to its ranks who doesn't meet its membership criteria. The Scouts simply doesn't agree that people of the same sex who are physically or sexually attracted to one another should be in its organization, and that alone is reason enough to omit such people from membership.
Should Salem Academy have to accept male boarding students to live and share quarters with females for the sake of "fairness and inclusiveness"? No, it is a women's boarding academy, and it should be allowed to remain so.
Total inclusiveness in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing. Some exclusivity preserves beliefs, convictions and traditions that give groups their very identity. Inclusiveness sometimes functions, particularly when forced, to dilute and negatively redefine a group's very core identity. This is never good. Conversely, when groups of their own volition, not forced through harassment and threats, choose to change their beliefs or membership criteria, then that change is acceptable.
If we are the diverse society we purport to be, we need some exclusivity. If gays are not to be admitted to the Scouts, perhaps they should organize the Gay Scouts of America, with their own identity. Meanwhile, quit whining because you didn't get picked for the team.
FRANK F. COAN
Winston-Salem
Complexity and order
I have been reading with great interest about the Higgs boson recently discovered after 50 years of searching. The boson, referred to as the God particle, gives mass and prevents the standard model from falling apart. Though scientists have recently discovered the particle, it has always existed.
The complexity and order of the universe we live in continues to amaze me. After discovering atomic particles we found sub-atomic particles. Gravity, dark matter and dark energy continue to be an enigma. And, of course, the search continues to find a unifying theory of the universe.
The thinking that all of this occurred by random chance in the crucible of time defies imagination. All we can do is discover what already exists and postulate theories of how it all began.
My question is simple: Where did the matter come from to begin with?
If mankind disappeared without any evidence it existed and aliens came to Earth and found buildings, roads and bridges, would they think it all just spontaneously came into being? There is an architect, and the Higgs boson is only one of his many marvels.
JOHN P. PRUITT
Winston-Salem
Recent events
In light of recent events, it is becoming more evident that it may be easier to control guns than to control people.
LOUIS NEWTON
Winston-Salem
Inequality overpays the few
Capitalism without democracy was and is savagery. For the civilized, the profit motive makes capitalism plausible. Without democracy's restraint, the apostle of capitalism is the mouth of greed.
Civilization begins with language and prevails with the law. Both culminate in democracy or terminate in tyranny. Equal justice under the law of, by and for the people assures liberty and justice for all. If and when it fails, we return to the misery of dictators and oligarchs.
Profit-sharing should rule big business. As we have seen, in its absence, inequality overpays the few. Without democracy, capitalism has and does fail.
Civilization has evolved to regulate the selfish instincts of the greedy human being. The strong man wins by preying on the weak. The weak person yields with praying for mercy from the strong. Democracy seeks to rule the game of life through distributing the good things of life fairly among us. The bad people use treachery to obtain more of the good things for themselves, largely through denying those things to most of us.
In the real world, money is used as currency, the medium of exchange. As the object of gain, money becomes both the lust for power and the symbol of poverty — to wit, the subject of torment.
The world has demonstrated that it can produce wealth for the few. It needs to show that it can produce well being for the many all of us.
MARCIALITO CAM
Winston-Salem
Society and culture
People are shocked by James Eagan Holmes shooting those in the movie theater in Aurora, Colo. I personally am not shocked, because we live in a society that no longer retains God in our minds. We as a society are trying to solve the outcome of our behavior, but we are not solving the problem. Our society is also contributing to the problem by taking God and his law out of our society and culture.
Mankind will use its imagination in dealing with life and problems and not retain God's truth and principles in its decision-making. Without God's truth, our imaginations dictate principles of right and wrong. No wonder our society and culture have totally gone wild and uncontrollable. If someone doesn't behave like our society and culture expects, we then call them "insane."
We as a society and culture no longer have direction in our nation. We as a people need a relationship with Jesus Christ. Read Romans 1.
LAWRENCE OVERTON
Winston-Salem
No lack of options
I read with no little surprise the July 24 letter "The right direction," lauding the U.K.'s National Health Service. In particular I was amused by "Yes, there has to be discernment about what procedures are necessary" — Why not just say rationing?
My son and his family lived in the U.K. for several years, and my 3-year-old grandson required a specialist for a hearing problem. His primary physician told the family it would be at least four months before he could be seen. They arrived in Winston-Salem the next week, and he was seen by a specialist the next day.
I don't know where your writer goes for health care, but in a city that boasts not only specialists in every discipline but a teaching and research hospital of national if not international caliber, I can't imagine any lack of options.
PAULINE G. CHAPMAN
Winston-Salem
Despicable act
The act was as despicable as can be, and James Holmes cannot be all there, but where is the attention being directed ("Gunman's motive unclear in Colo. attack," July 21)? The movie was about violence and most movies today contain similar acts of violence. No, it must be the gun, let's all hold the gun responsible.
Why is it there isn't any attention being paid to the amount of violence that young folks are exposed to today? There is a lack of ethical conduct in many areas of life. Witness what the kids did to the poor kitten ("Kitten attacked by children euthanized," July 19). As an afterthought, what of the parents? Any lack of supervision or responsibilities there? The apple does not fall very far from the tree.
RAY MARTEL
Advance
