To set a good example
I noticed that two of Arkansas' school boards have stopped praying before each meeting while they check to see if it is legal. It seems strange to me that they are going to determine if prayer is legal when God has already said it was.
Now what happens when men stop praying? The natural course would be to follow their own agenda. Doesn't God know more than they do? Is their way going to be better?
That's exactly what's wrong with our country today, doing things our way instead of seeking God's guidance and help. Prayer should be as natural to the soul as breathing is to the body.
May the Christian people be found seeking God's help, guidance, and strength. This I know, if people want to pray, you cannot stop them and if they do not want to pray, you cannot make them. Should not the Christian be setting a good example by praying and so encourage others?
FREDDY N. BOEN
Fordyce
Inflicts further injury
Arkansas may soon make history by putting eight individuals to death in the span of 10 days. It would then repudiate what we the people have long proclaimed to be humankind's premier inalienable right--the right to life. We hold inalienable rights to be an endowment from life's author. They can be abridged through due process for good cause but never revoked by anyone for any reason, let alone the ignoble one prompting this historic event.
Capital punishment doesn't meet any of the criteria both science and experience tell us are necessary for an effective behavior deterrent. Rather, it's a pathetic solution born of despair--a collective statement of abandoned hope that a badly damaged soul can be salvaged.
All hearts go out to the families of those who perished. But while revenge may bring temporary solace, it can never truly compensate for loss, or bring real peace. Wounded hearts need genuine healing. And doing that means coming to proper and admittedly difficult terms with suffering. Christians believe Jesus had it exactly right: As hard as it is to choose sometimes, the only spiritually healthy response is the loving one. And he proclaims this the fundamental imperative for being fully alive and internally at peace.
The state's plan would invite the executioner and the executed to share a similar identity and perpetuate the long, lamentable cycle of violence. And it will bring no peace but rather inflict even further injury on the surviving souls.
GEORGE SIMON
Maumelle
Man shouldn't decide
It's really sad that we supposedly live in the Bible Belt yet it seems we continue to go against the Bible. There are now eight people who are set to be, in my opinion, murdered by our state and infamous governor.
The eye-for-an-eye bit is long gone. Our Ten Commandments say "Thou shalt not kill." Incarceration, fine, but I believe the Lord is the only one who can decide who's to live and who's to die, not man. Executions are nothing but our government getting away with murder!
PAT OAKES
Little Rock
New commandments
Apparently, our traditional commandments have been changed to comply with the new ultra-good conservative's hypocritical views. The new commandments would be as follows:
Thou shall be able to kill as long as you have a good reason, are trained and have a permit; just don't murder anybody.
It's okay to pollute, contaminate, or destroy the earth because God will come clean it all up for us.
It's okay to hate people as long as you have a good reason: their race or religion, who they choose to love, if they are too liberal and open-minded.
Don't help feed, care for, insure or provide medical treatment for anyone who is deemed not worthy.
Don't support traditional public education, public TV or radio.
You can be pro-life as long as you don't support prenatal education, birth control information, early childhood care with nutrition and medical help. Plus, you must also deny women's rights and agree to accept any child for adoption.
Only your religious beliefs are valid; everyone else is wrong and only you can go to heaven.
Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. The elite shall be given favoritism in every regard.
God will take care of everything for you, no worries, no cares, just pray and everything will be wonderful, like La La Land. You can even ask for more car sales, and bingo, there it is.
It's okay to judge others, for God is on your side, by your side.
Sad, so very sad.
LARRY D. BINTLIFF
Bee Branch
Out of touch with us
Donald Trump must be doing great things. I have never heard so much whining from the land of the scream and the home of the naïve, aka Fayetteville and the U of A. Is anyone teaching any marketable skills up there in La-La Land?
They obviously don't remember that two out of three Arkansans voted against Hillary and her scree.
Maybe Missouri would like to annex Fayetteville with its UA drivel. They are way out of touch with two-thirds of us. Good riddance.
BOB L. WARNER
Hot Springs Village
No habla around here
Hey, what is this teaching driving in Spanish? The last I heard, we speak English here in this here country. The next thing you know, we will be teaching it in other languages. There are just too many languages that have come into our country to teach them in their different dialects. Our freeway signs are in English. How in the hell are they going to read them?
Dumbest thing I have heard in a long time. Quit it.
MELVIN WEST
Hot Springs Village
Need entertainment
If TV entertainment has come to a clown feeding a clown dog food, we are in trouble.
We need entertainment or shut the stations down. That is, all of them. I am going back to reading!
HARRY HOHENSTEIN
Searcy
Editorial on 03/30/2017