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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Letters to Maurice - an ongoing series

Dear Maurice,

Interesting letters selection in Sunday’s Virginian Pilot. Three letters criticizing religion and one defending faith … out of seven total. One of the correspondents mentioned that 78% of Americans were self professed Christians. Let’s think about that and how it applies to your paper’s editorial judgment.

I don’t know how many letters you get each day, but let’s use a nice round number of 100. You tell me if it’s more or less. If it’s 100 then Donny Luzzatto chose to publish 7. Of that 7 he chose four which discussed religion. And of those, three can be classified as anti religion. So 3% of the letter writers – those who write letters denigrating religion – get about 60% of the coverage in your letters section.

As that gecko in the Geico commercials says: "Nice."

Didn’t you tell us in you full page editorial that you have people telling you that they’re praying for you? Evidently these people – the church ladies - are not only illogical, they are unintelligent. That’s the opinion of Liz Sheffield-Peters, one of the authors Donny decided to print. Another, Carol Anderson, denigrates people who believe in the Bible. Yet a third believes that despite the First Amendment, hostility to religion is OK if “we” vote for it.

Since editorial judgment is used in deciding what letters to print, it’s reasonable to conclude that your editors believe religious people range from the stupid, to the ill-informed, to being subject to removal from the public sphere. Do you remember what I wrote you earlier about people who pay for your product? The part about paying to be insulted? Today’s letters to the editor is exhibit A.

And don’t get me started on the lame defense of Obama's military tribunals. Guantanamo's issues aren't easy to unravel Obama did not campaign to modify the rules of evidence in military tribunals. He denounced them root and branch … as did “dependable voice for justice and human rights” Bobby Scott. Rewriting history in the age of the Internet makes the people who try it objects of derision.

You really should be getting more for your money.

That’s why I’m a volunteer.

Best,

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