Sounding off: Abortion, schools, guns among week's topics

Abortion and the Bible

If you follow the Bible, you can vote in favor of abortion. That runs contrary to what the writer of the letter “If you follow the Bible, you must vote against abortion” (June 9, TribLive) claims: “If you are a follower of its teaching, you must vote against it (abortion).” Jeremiah 1:4 and the Sixth Commandment (Thou shalt not kill/murder) are offered as proof.

But so many biblical passages justify abortion and killing. Hosea 13:16 has God ordering the slicing of babies from the womb and thrashing infants against rocks. Numbers 31:17-19 has Moses ordering the killing of every male among the little ones. The Passover is another mass killing of children. Deuteronomy 28:53 has a God who delights in punishing people to the point they will eat their young and afterbirth. In Deuteronomy 32:25, the “virgin and sucking child” are to be destroyed. In Numbers 5:11-31 God prescribes to Moses a “law of jealousy” abortion/miscarriage potion to cause suspected adulteresses to abort even though this would not prove that the child was not the husband’s baby.

The Old Testament is a book replete with mass killings of men, women and children. I could cite many other passages for you. So please do not use the Bible as your justification for voting against abortion. Instead, you could use it as the textbook or manual for abortion and other killing. The God of the Bible is not a pro-life God. Regrettably, that God is a killing God of the born and unborn.

Bruce Braden

Carmel, Ind.

The writer is a Mt. Pleasant native.

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Solar panels a good option for Hempfield school roof

Just read Julia Maruca’s article “Hempfield Area considering replacing high school auditorium roof” (June 13, TribLive). Seems like now would be an excellent time to consider the installation of solar panels on that portion of the roof.

Past articles in the Trib referenced studies done concerning this topic, as well as the cost offsets available and the potential savings. It has been reported that renewable energy sources produced more energy than that produced by coal for the first time.

Renewable sources of energy are increasing all the time. Are the students being exposed to these growing employment opportunities? Is Hempfield ignoring cost savings available by producing some or all of its electrical needs?

I would urge the school board to consider installing solar panels.

Robert Thomas

Greensburg

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Use the Powell Doctrine on Russia

Whatever happened to the Powell Doctrine (named after Gen. Colin Powell)? Hit the enemy with overwhelming force. Apply that to NATO’s present situation vis-a-vis Russia. Now is a good time to apply the Powell Doctrine, with Russian officers looking over their shoulders about corruption charges. NATO war planners have a plan. Execute the plan.

This piecemeal approach to Putin will bleed Ukraine dry. It is time for Ukraine to execute its war plans.

Simon Solar

New Kensington

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Time to fix the school funding crisis

I am writing in complete agreement with Amy Stuart, Corinna Skorpenske and Patrick Sable’s op-ed “Harrisburg must fully and fairly fund our schools” (June 7, TribLive). Their call to stop applying Band-Aids to the gaping wound that is our public school funding issue is a sentiment I fully echo. We are dealing with more than just a problem: We’re facing a crisis that has been allowed to fester for far too long.

Our elected officials in Harrisburg need to rise to the occasion and take decisive actions for our children, our communities and our future. This is not a matter of party lines, it’s a Pennsylvania issue. We all have a stake in the success of our public schools, and it’s high time we acted like it. Let’s stand united in our demand for fair school funding.

Cheryl Towers

Squirrel Hill

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Bump stock ruling shows Supreme Court is not pro-life

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the national ban on rapid-fire rifle bump stocks is a blatant betrayal of any “pro-life” ethic the court claims to champion.

In its June 3, 2022, Letter to Congress on Gun Violence, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explicitly calls for a “total ban on assault weapons and limitations on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines … including a ban on bump stocks.” Data show restrictions on high-capacity magazines and accessories like bump stocks can reduce the number of people killed in mass shootings by as much at 38%, and those injured by as much as 77%.

And yet America continues to worship at the feet of idols wrought of cold steel. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, reminds us, “The Second Amendment did not come down from Sinai; the right to bear arms will never be more important than human life.”

Thanks to the Supreme Court, the number of innocent people wounded, maimed and killed by gun violence will grow exponentially. Until we confront and condemn our “culture of guns,” pleas from politicians and preachers advocating a “culture of life” ring hollow.

Keith G. Kondrich

Swisshelm Park

The writer is a deacon in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

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November vote goes beyond personality, performance

Your vote in November is about much, much more than whether you dislike President Trump’s personality or President Biden’s job performance. Most relevant, we now have a clear choice of continuing the far-left, socialist, bigger-government policies of the Biden regime, or replace them with the increased opportunities, freedoms, security and lower taxes of Trump’s American capitalism.

Keep in mind that true socialism has never worked in the countries it was tried, and can lead to a communist state, while American capitalism is what made the USA financially successful, and free, for the past 260 years.

Other considerations for your vote are skyrocketing illegal immigration, rapidly rising prices, ballooning federal debt, deterioration of universities, wokeism replacing meritocracy, public schools’ poor results, and use of the justice system to destroy the opposing party and president, and remove him from office, which creates the terrible possibility of creating a one-party totalitarian government, which has historically destroyed many countries.

Today’s Democratic Party is no longer the party of the “working man” or President Jack Kennedy. They have tried everything, from day one, to destroy Trump, with their phony Russian dossier, financed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, two impeachments, in which the president was acquitted, and 61 various indictments from Democratic state courts, for charges relating to things like accounting errors and a 20-year-old affair. They also tried to diminish the roles of the Supreme Court and Electoral College in electing presidents, and they liberalized mail-in voting, which greatly increases opportunities for voter fraud.

Ron Raymond

Buffalo Township

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Praising Orban is unpatriotic

Isn’t it curious how the MAGA Republicans have become so enamored with Hungary lately? Hungary’s proto- fascist strongman Viktor Orban has been invited to speak at C-PAC, been hosted at Mar-a-Lago and lavishly lauded by Donald Trump. Why?

The unfortunate history of Hungary has been rife with centuries of fire and sword inflicted upon its people by sultans, emperors, kings, Communists and Nazis.

In 1526, Hungary’s king was killed while the flower of his nobility was exterminated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Mohacs. A century and a half later, the Turks were crushed by the Austrians.

The United States declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. When peace came, Hungary finally became a nation on its own. Yet the Hungarians were so inured to despots and domination that they quickly became subverted by Adolph Hitler. During World War II, Hungary was again the foe of the United States, but Nazi influence led them to send an entire army into Russia, which vanished in the snow west of Stalingrad. The Communist Red Army then extinguished Hungarian freedom for going on 50 years.

Finally, along comes Orban, who neutered his political opposition, muzzled the press and strung razor wire along his borders to keep out refugees and immigrants.

Only MAGA extremists could ever imagine that a Hungarian dictator could teach Americans a lesson in how to enhance our democracy. The very conception is insipid, unhinged and as unpatriotic as it can possibly be. Orban is nothing but a thug.

Jim Harger

New Kensington