Christian Renewal

Sir: It is too late now, I know, but as a belated nomination for Man of the Year I suggest your own writer of the cover story on Christian renewal [Dec. 25]. At least pat him on the back for me. He really caught the spirit of the thing--let's hope that the rest of us can do the same.

(MRS.) KAY PRITSCHER Lexington, Ohio

Sir: If church renewal ever gets off the ground (or if it ever gets down to earth), we can thank you for the significant contribution TIME has made.

RICHARD W. PETTIT Bay Methodist Church Bay Village, Ohio

Sir: Again you are one up on all those religious "trade publications." You miss the obvious conclusion, however. God himself is producing this age referred to as "secular."

(THE REV.) ANDREW G. KUNZ Trinity Episcopal Parish St. Louis

Sir: As a born and raised Roman Catholic, I cannot help admiring your article for its boldly searching nature and keen pioneering spirit, worthy of the great thinkers and reformers.

MARIAN NOWAK Greenwich, Conn.

Sir: Once again TIME has produced a Christmas cover story that cries out for expressed appreciation. I am sure that the writer was imbued with the Christmas spirit. He did not run amuck into the obscure with unaided sincerity. I am sure that he found an ironic delight in spelling the name of that fine gentleman Dr. Schillebeeckx.

HAYDN L. GILMORE Chaplain Captain, U.S.A.F. Lowry AFB, Colo.

Sir: Reformation? Can it be? If thinkers like Bishops Robinson and Pike prevail, perhaps the church will again deserve my consideration.

(MRS.) ROBERTA STEWART Ames, Iowa

Sir: I read your discerning article in Madras, India, on a hot Christmas Day. It was most pertinent there, where Christian churches are so often decadent and often less relevant to the world than Communism is. But can the Christian church really give up supernaturalism, adhering only to human values and service, leaving explanations of the physical universe to scientists? I doubt it.

WILLARD JOHNSON Boston

Sir: The final reformation will come only when man sheds his supernaturalistic escapist fantasies and relates his perspective to reality and the natural world about him.

DAVID PERSUITTE Sundance, Wyo.

Sir: As an ordained Methodist minister and a graduate student of ecumenics, I can only marvel at the relevancy, scope, and balance of your article on Christian renewal. And as a former journalist, I can see both its journalistic and theological angles. The writer failed us in neither.

(THE REV.) LLOYD R. APPLEGATE West Warwick, R.I.

Sir: The church has always proved most relevant to the world when she didn't give a whoop whether she was temporally relevant or not. All these efforts to accommodate the church to time, and ignore eternity, lose both time and eternity.

BISHOP NOLAN B. HARMON Dictionary of World Methodism Atlanta

Sir: While Bishop John Robinson, Dr. Paul Tillich, Albert van den Heuvel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bishop James A. Pike and their fellow heretics are spending eternity in the punishment they so richly deserve, the God of the Bible and his virgin-born son, Jesus Christ, will continue to be, as will the Holy Spirit and the church, the Body of Christ.

HOWARD WESLEY KIEFER Grace Bible Church Sheffield, Mass.

Sir: Without the parish, Christianity will not die, but who or what will take over its function? Joining a civil rights movement or an ecumenical discussion group will and can not replace it.

CLAYTON C. HANSEN Chicago

Sir: If the article had been written by Bob Dylan and sung by Joan Baez, accompanied by five hundred guitar and banjo-playing U.C.L.A. students from Berkeley, it would hardly have been less fantastically radical and unbelievable. There is nothing wrong with "searching and questioning," but in this age of pseudo-intellectual phonies, it is always the wrong things that are searched for and questioned.

R. P. FITZGERALD Havertown, Pa.

Princely Tirade

Sir: TIME stated that "Cambodia is virtually a Peking satellite. Prince Sihanouk is openly aiding the Communist guerrillas in Viet Nam by providing them sanctuary" [Nov. 13]. It is clear that, in your opinion, any Asian country that rejects invasion by your armed forces and your ridiculous military bases can only be a satellite of China. The Viet Cong guerrillas have no need of Cambodia as a "sanctuary," where they have never been tolerated. Though your forces may control the towns of South Viet Nam, almost the whole of the rest of the country is in the hands of the guerrillas, who benefit from something which you will never have--the trust and support of the people.

NORODOM SIHANOUK Chief of State Pnompenh, Cambodia

TIME based its judgment not on Sihanouk's rejection of U.S. aid, but on his sympathy for the Viet Cong and flirtation with Red China. Last week Pnompenh radio announced that China agreed to supply 20,000 Cambodian troops with heavy artillery and other equipment.

Misconception

Sir: The letter of Spruille Braden Jr. [Dec. 25] gives an impression about the International Executive Service Corps that should be corrected. It is the purpose of IESC to assist those businesses in developing countries that are unable to employ qualified advisers. IESC will not, therefore, confront management consultants with "cut-rate competition." Rather, it seeks in a modest way to raise the level of performance of individual businesses and so create conditions more favorable to all types of business activity.

EDWARD LITTLEJOHN International Executive Service Corps New York City

Unpopular Treaty

Sir: TIME, which usually remembers what the others forget, did not mention that we have long had a treaty with Nicaragua for a canal route across that country [Dec. 25]. There was considerable controversy about whether to build in Panama or Nicaragua, and Teddy Roosevelt, I think, settled it by acquiring both routes, holding Nicaragua in reserve for possible future use. Am I right?

WILLIAM E. MARSH Oklahoma City

For the lump sum of $3,000,000, a 1914 treaty granted the U.S. perpetual, exclusive rights to build a canal through Nicaragua.

Abortion in the U.S.

Sir: Re legal abortion [Dec. 25]: When are we going to face the fact that human beings can no longer breed at the same level as animals? People should not be forced to become parents because of a blind biological collision between sperm and ovum, but should be free to choose whether or not they will undertake the obligations of parenthood.

CAROLYN CLAYTON JONES Metairie, La.

Sir: Cheers for the New York Academy of Medicine and their prescription for amending the laws to permit a therapeutic abortion. While they are at it, why not propose extermination of all babies who are born defective? Then finally, let's get rid of all the seniles. Who is to call any of these killings murder!

(MRS.) ARLENE STEPNICK San Diego

Eating Poinsettias

Sir: TIME'S warning concerning the poison dangers of the poinsettia [Dec. 25] is one whispered about every season. But as far as anyone knows, nothing of the kind has ever happened. The Department of Health, Education & Welfare has in the last five years received records of 13 children who had consumed parts of the poinsettia. Twelve had no injury. One had experienced vomiting and nausea. None showed any symptoms of serious illness. We agree with you, however, that they are not recommended diet.

M. TRUMAN POSSUM Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association Detroit

A Name to Protect

Sir: Justice Greenberg's decision on John Goldfarb, Please Come Home [Dec. 25] makes me suspect that the good name he wishes to protect is not Notre Dame's at all. It is probably John Goldfarb's.

ADAM RUBENSTEIN Boston

Sir: By suppressing "bad" publicity, Notre Dame has gained more of it for the movie than it would have ordinarily received. When this "ugly, vulgar and tawdry" thing is released without the university's name, Notre Dame will be remembered even more vividly because of the publicity given to the court's decision.

HAROLD L. MENSCH Park Forest, Ill.

Revolted

Sir: After reading your review of The Toilet and The Slave, I was sick to my stomach. Have you no respect for decent readers and minds that don't wish to swim in such stench?

O. W. HIRSCHFELD Cincinnati

Exempt?

Sir: You may think that U.S. law now insists that the Negro be served, but a week after the Supreme Court decision [Dec. 25], my son and five other civil rights workers were jailed two days and fined $1,000 for requesting service in a Laurel, Miss., restaurant.

JOHN T. FOSTER Deerfield, Ill.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.