Letters

Church as a Safe Place

In response to Sandi Villarreal’s article “Shelter in the Storm” in September-October 2015, can I add that substance abuse is a common coping strategy for those who have experienced trauma? If the church can also provide a safe space for those who struggle with addiction, beyond merely providing physical space for AA/NA meetings, perhaps we can begin to address the underlying issues that are fueling the current heroin epidemic. Addiction is a protective strategy intended to help the individual survive the emotional dysregulation caused by trauma, not a moral or spiritual failure.

Debbie Ruisard
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Call for Repentance

Ryan Herring’s article in the September-October 2015 issue (“Now Is a Time for Theology to Thrive”) was disappointing. Rather than give a balanced assessment of what the church should address regarding those issues surrounding racism, he instead launched into what is just one among many diatribes of predictability: a canonization of Michael Brown with a corresponding demonization of law enforcement.
     Should the church address racism and systemic oppression? Yes! We should do so, however, within the framework of the same gospel that we have been about for the past 2,000 years: namely, calling all people everywhere to repentance. There is an antiquated (though valid, I think) term for what has been going on in Ferguson and around the country today. It is called “sin.”

David Mercer
Palatine, Illinois

Implicit Bias in a Sundown Town

My hometown of Goshen, Ind., was a “sundown town” well into the 1970s, with many subdivisions remaining white only, if not directly by housing policies then indirectly by intentional sales practices by realtors. I grew up in Goshen and was exposed to little diversity in my school. In a sense, the town my generation inherited was one where we were robbed of growing up with a more diverse population where diversity was the norm and was celebrated.
     Now I see implicit bias (discussed in Lisa Sharon Harper’s column “Four Easy Ways to Be a White Supremacist” in the September-October issue) in myself, and I hate it and have to work continuously to overcome it. White supremacy and implicit bias are tough subjects to face head on, but for the Kingdom of God to be brought forth by Christians, we must face this directly.

Terry Martin
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Loving Both Israel and Palestine

Returning home from Texas recently, I finally had time to catch up on some important reading, including Jim Wallis’ article in the March 2015 issue titled “Choosing the Side of Justice.” For years I have stammered about with some of my Southern, conservative, evangelical friends, trying to find some way to explain my opposition to all-or-nothing Zionism. In one succinct and powerful page of prose you have encompassed the problem we face today as Christians who love both Palestinians and the people of Israel. I felt as though King Solomon had stepped onto our modern stage and spoken truth into the midst of our confusion and polarity.

Betty Pulkingham
Burlington, North Carolina