It’s another edition of John’s least favorite feature. First, there must be something so egregious to merit that antiquated form of protest known as the “Letter to the Editor.” Sadly, that criteria was met by both magazines coming in the mailbox from both the religious right and left. Second, the letter must be declined. Here are the latest additions.
In response to an article praising the “blessing” of abortion, John sent this to the Christian Century:
Annelisa Burns (“Seeing abortion access as a blessing”) asks a good question to Katey Zeh of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: “Why do you think so many people assume an opposition between Christianity and abortion?” Striving to understand another’s perspective even if (perhaps, especially if) one disagrees is a needed skill in these polarized times. Sadly, Zeh does not respond by noting the preborn John kicking in the womb of Elizabeth in the presence of Mary; David praising a God who has “knit me together in my mother’s womb;” or Solomon describing “hands that shed innocent blood” as being on a short list of the things that the Lord most abhors. These are among the reasons that would be readily cited by those who believe preborn humans are worthy of protection from dismemberment.
Instead, the first words from Zeh invoke “White Christian nationalists” and their plot to elect conservatives as the source of the linkage. What of the many black and brown Christians who too share a deep concern for the unborn even if they are progressive on other issues? And what of the history of the right to life movement which pre-Roe was largely fueled by female Catholic Democrats in New York responding to a pro-abortion Republican governor? Zeh should be able to acknowledge these complexities rather than simply repeating the progressive trope of the hour before offering this disturbing logic: Zeh sees questions of life as “the questions about what it means to be human” and warns of “hubris,” and yet she comes down squarely on the side of death for the small.
May the Lord have mercy on us all.
John Murdock
That received what seemed a stock reply: “Thank you for your letter to the editor in response to Annelisa Burns’s interview with Katey Zeh. Like all letters we receive, yours will be considered for publication in a forthcoming issue of the magazine.” John let his subscription expire, but presumes it was not published. (If not, let John know.)
And in response to Rusty Reno’s anti-anti-Hitler and anti-anti-Trump piece at First Things, John wrote the following:
R.R. Reno (“Hitler’s Second Coming”) finally finds dangerous presidential rhetoric that must be exposed! Joe Biden has called for Ukraine to be supported and January 6th to be decried. Reno’s perceptive ears hear “wildly irresponsible” accusations improperly raising the specter of 1939 from a “ham-handed” orator who “never does with a scalpel what he can do with a machete.” Reno sees only a “ragtag mob in the Capitol” and who knows what in Putin.
I write not to unnecessarily elevate the often bumbling Biden, but it is interesting that Reno is incensed by Biden’s analogy while I recall no such response to another president’s references to his opponents as “vermin” or the media as “enemies of the people” or immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country.” Perhaps, Reno will condemn Donald Trump’s recent “Gestapo administration” claims as this would seem to be the same sort of “resort to Hitler” offense that Biden has committed.
I am not holding my breath. Before his turn to anti-anti-Trump and anti-anti-Hitler outrage, Reno once swung his own rhetorical machete in 2016 and warned against “Trumpster diving.” He seems to have gone nose-blind to the stench and deaf to Trump’s words in the years since.
John Murdock
An intern sent me a message which may or may not be the standard reply: “Thank you for submitting this letter. Unfortunately, we were unable to use it in our August/September issue. Please always feel free to submit letters in the future.” Sadly, that may be necessary.
