Letters to the Editor

For the Feb. 5 issue.

Advice to new

committee member

To the editor:
   Congratulations Randy Scragg and good luck with your new role as committeeman. I hope that in accepting this challenge to lead our community you will be an advocate for those you represent much like your role as a patient advocate in the workplace. Your experience as a nurse can guide you in your new responsibilities. I am sure you will be confronted with many ethical decisions throughout your term in office. I hope that you will make evidenced-based decisions without falling prey to partisan politics. Anyone can be a yes-man. When a doctor writes an order that you know is not right for the patient, do you carry the order out or do you stand up to the doctor on the patient’s behalf?
   Please triage the problems that face our township. I am somewhat disturbed that with the big financial problems that loom before us, you have had to dedicate so much of your time to recreation. I believe that this is a waste of your valuable time that should be dedicated to more urgent problems.
   I also am relatively new to Mansfield Township, having moved here five years ago. I feel extremely fortunate to live here and want our community to continue to be a great place to live. The ethical principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence applied to our community should direct your decision process. The decisions you make will affect our community positively or negatively long after your political career is over.

New legislation opens

moral questions

To the editor:
   Recent developments in state government prove that we live in some very scary times. The passing of the Stem-Cell Bill, and the Legislature’s approval of domestic partnership rules confirm that the leadership of this state is without any moral grounding. These actions are born out of pure political calculation, and the intentional deception of the greater general public by zealots, and those willing to help them. If we could be honest for just one second, we should ask ourselves, "what kind of people are we that we should be doing these things, and more importantly, what is the future for our children?"
   The Stem-Cell Bill has propelled New Jersey backwards by more than 140 years to a time when the white man said that the black man is not a man; rather he is nothing more than a piece of merchandise. This is what New Jersey has done by legalizing the Stem-Cell Bill; we have made merchandise out of our fellow man: to use pre-born people any way we want- even killing them. The sin of slavery cost America thousands of lives and untold misery. However, if we look for a statement that represents the moral reason for the Civil War, it is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids slavery: that is the ownership of one person by another person. New Jersey’s Stem-Cell Bill violates the 13th Amendment. It goes backwards in time, and allows the immoral heart of slavery to beat again. It gives ownership of pre-born people to New Jersey’s big pharmeceutical and bio-tech companies. But these words that God spoke to Cain after he killed his brother Abel, He also speaks to New Jersey, "Where is your brother? What have you done? His blood cries out to Me from the ground!" The very first man to be born by man was an oppressor, and a murderer. Sadly, things have not changed since the time of Cain; and as he did not get away with his sin, neither will New Jersey.
   New Jersey’s proposed Domestic Partnership rules is yet another violation of God’s righteous decrees. It amazes me how easily people can be fooled into believing lies. The Bible unambiguously declares that marriage shall be between one man and one woman only. Our own bodies loudly testify how they are to be rightly used (for procreation, and the gift of sex), and no gainsaying politician, or lying priest can mute this voice. Unfortunately, the information gatekeepers in the press and media are allied with people like these. Information that does come out about homosexuality is highly skewed, but more importantly is the information that is not allowed out. Where is the great public debate? Where are the investigative reports in the newspapers and media about the homosexual lifestyle?
   Another point that you should consider is the language of the NJ Domestic Partnership Act. You can read it yourself at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2002/Bills/AL03/246_.HTM Did you know that the bill is over 90 pages long, and that most of its language sets up punishments for the people of NJ who do not comply with its dictates. Did you know there is only one thin line in the entire document that allows for a religious exception? To read the entire document is tedious, but you owe it to yourself, and your children to become familiar with the future.
   Canada, and the European nations that have legalized homosexual marriage are already talking about removing the religious exception that spares churches from being forced to perform these marriages. How long do you think it would take this state’s legislator’s to do the same thing regarding domestic partnerships (or outright homosexual marriage)? If you are willing to be intellectually honest, this state, this nation, and this world will either fully embrace the notion of homosexual marriage, or completely reject it. Abraham Lincoln expressed it well when he said about slavery, "A house divided against itself cannot stand…I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave, and half free." If it was true that the nation could not stand divided on the immorality of slavery (and it is true), then neither will it now stand divided on the immorality of homosexual marriage.