Ted's right

[Douglas <dougwils@moscow.com>]

Dear visionaries,

Ted Moffet's post (with regard to substance) was right on the money. As
we are fond of saying in our circles, theology comes out your fingertips
-- and whatever comes out your fingertips is your theology. Please
remember that the issue that prompted all the debate was the fact that
the school district came within a whisker of having to close one of the
government schools (that's what they are, so why not say so?). If
present trends continue, and it looks as though they will, this is will
remain a highly significant community issue. Why is it happening? There
is no way to answer the question accurately without addressing the
theological underpinnings in the minds of many that have caused the
exodus from the government schools ("Why do you call them that?
Pravda was actually a public newspaper!")

The one place where I think Ted missed the point was in his suggestion
that Doug Jones wanted to shuffle the debate off into a tiny corner, as
though the centrality of these issues were not self-evident. Actually, we
think the debate needs to happen, and happen publicly. But we also know
that the ethos of university town liberalism is highly provincial and
insular, and people frequently do not take well to genuine diversity in
public discourse. We simply do not want to offend anyone
unnecessarily. But when it comes to our reasons for not allowing
our children to be indoctrinated in the tenets of a religion alien to
ours, giving offense has become unfortunately necessary.