Should be on a stage
Thanks to Cheryl Denison of Hot Springs for her Nov. 23 letter objecting to the three clowns that supposedly called the Ole Miss game. I likened it to a vaudeville act that kept getting interrupted by a football game.
You guys should be on a stage; there's one leaving before your next game!
JIM SHREVE
Bentonville
Re-classify schools
Private-school sports should be in their own classifications. Small-town schools can't compete with private schools from the large metropolitan areas; the population and resources are an astronomical advantage for private schools. Private schools are detrimental to the public schools that are in close proximity and to schools that are in the same conference with them.
For example, Springdale and Har-Ber both had a 1-9 record because of the parasitic nature of private schools. Because of the "Competitive Equity Factor" implemented this year, two private schools were added to 6A West, expanding it to a 10-team conference. So, a 0-10 Siloam Springs team not only had to play Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian, losing by 47 and 55 points, they lost the option of playing two non-conference games with teams on their level. It is disheartening to see Hackett lose in the volleyball championship game to Baptist Prep from a city 250 times the size.
The big five private schools are 49-3 against public schools in football, and all are ranked in the top in the state.
The concern should be fair play and equitable classification for public schools, not the dominance of private schools. There are plenty of small private schools to have their own classification, and the larger schools should create their own association with schools from Oklahoma (they have a private school problem there too) or other states.
VERNON RUSSELL
Uniontown
Educate yourselves
Americans seem to fall for catchphrases and offer up simple solutions to complex problems. In the current political season, you hear things like "let's stop Biden's war on oil," "we need to drill more," "we used to be completely energy-independent, produce all of our own oil," etc. The reality is there is no simple solution to gas prices and how we consume and produce oil.
The crude oil that comes out of the ground is graded by density, either "light/sweet" or "heavy/sour." The oil from Texas and Oklahoma is generally light/sweet and the oil from countries like Venezuela and the cartel is mostly heavy/sour.
So the problem right now is the lack of oil infrastructure like pipelines from Texas Permian basin to the Gulf. Then, once the light/sweet oil gets there, having a refinery capable of refining it into gas and diesel. Most of the refineries on the Gulf Coast refine heavy/sour. The next big issue is there is only one port in Louisiana deep enough to load the super-tankers to carry American oil abroad so we can sell it to expand our own oil industry.
As our new Congress begins to take shape, people need to educate themselves on this important issue so that when constituents hear the catchphrases start up for solutions, they will better be able to respond and understand what is going on.
DAVE DINGLER
North Little Rock
Not one and the same
I read opinion letters here every day condemning Republicans and Christians, especially "evangelical" Christians, for many of our country's ills.
John MacArthur is a pastor in California. In a recent sermon he lists four core beliefs necessary to define an evangelical Christian. They are the Bible, Jesus, the gospel, and a responsibility to communicate the gospel.
He refers to a survey of the State of Theology. Ligonier Ministries conducts a survey each year to assess the condition of Christians. The 2022 survey yielded these results. On the question of everyone being born innocent in the eyes of God, 71 percent of adults surveyed agreed and 65 percent of evangelicals agreed. The Bible teaches otherwise. Fifty-three percent of all adults and 26 percent of evangelicals agreed the Bible is not literally true. Fifty-six percent of evangelicals agreed God accepts the worship of all religions, 43 percent agreed Jesus was a good teacher but he was not God, and 38 percent agreed religious faith is a matter of opinion, not objective truth.
These results indicate many evangelicals do not believe even the foundational truths of the Christian faith. Secularism has penetrated the churches, and MacArthur says the fault lies with Christian leaders who are not willing to teach and defend these truths for fear of offending non-Christians. The Bible teaches that Jesus and the gospel are inherently offensive to a non-believer. That's true in my experience.
The survey indicates that believing evangelical Christians are to blame for all our ills based on their faith is inaccurate, and that Republicans who claim to be evangelical Christians may not be. A person's politics based on being an evangelical, and attacking Republicans for that, needs to be reconsidered.
MICHAEL SANDERS
Little Rock