Sleeping Giant

Sir: Your enlightening cover story on Martin Luther [March 24] has erased the picture in my mind of the wild heretic and replaced it with one of a man with great faith, strong convictions, and quite human weaknesses. TIME has helped dispel some of the interdenominational prejudice that must be abolished before ecumenism can be a reality.

JEFFREY P. JACQUART Cincinnati

Sir: As a Lutheran, I found your story of particular interest. Many consider the Lutheran Church to be a sleeping giant among the denominations, with the mystique of the Roman Catholic Church and the evangelism of the Protestant churches. No one can say we are narrow-minded in our attitude toward living. In your "Reflections from an Irregular Planet," one that could have been included is the well-known quotation of Luther's: "Who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long." Luther did not mind admitting that he was human, something many theologians of today will not do.

JAMES A. VORDENBAUM Seguin, Texas

Sir: It is true that Luther appeared to be at odds with his own teachings, judged by today's standards emphasizing faith alone, yet dedicated to service. This and other apparent confusions are cleared up when he is understood as supporting the Biblical view of faith resulting in service and concern rather than service as an effort to attain faith. You also accurately presented Luther as a man truly ecumenical, not wishing to divide the church or to separate himself from it but simply to reform it. The basic error of modern theology--which is frequently difficult to separate from politics, philosophies and other areas of thought--is in attempts by churches at nonecumenical uniting, not on the basis of faith or of adjusted differences based on faith but because of need. We could learn from Luther to stand for conviction.

(THE REV.) J. V. MOYER Fmmaus Lutheran Church Wauseon, Ohio

Sir: Granted that Luther was too often dismissed as a neurotic misfit. Too frequently was he portrayed as the vice-regent of Satan who slyly wormed his way into the priesthood. But to claim that "Luther's conviction that all men stand equally naked before God constitutes the theo logical substratum justifying liberal democracy" is poppycock. Listen to a sample of Luther's democracy: "The princes of this world are gods, the common people are Satan, through whom God sometimes does what at other times he does directly through Satan, i.e., makes rebellion as a punishment for the people's sins. I would rather suffer a prince doing wrong than a people doing right. It is in no wise proper for anyone who would be a Christian to set himself up against his government, whether it act justly or unjustly."

(THE REV.) ROBERT E. DOVICK Quigley Preparatory Seminary South Chicago

Crime & the Community

Sir: Thanks for putting into words what thousands of civic-minded persons have been trying to say for years: Crime [March 24] is not the responsibility of only the police, courts or prisons; it is a concern of the whole community.

ROBERT W. KOUMISS Chicago

Sir: You seem to have forgotten the greatest crime deterrent of all: an upright conscience. No legislation, police vigilance, welfare programs or idealistic philosophy can impose morality on people; it must come from an inner conviction of rightness or wrongness based on a code of ethics derived from religion.

J. J. BRADLEY Baltimore

Sir: If, as your Essay suggests, teen-agers and the automobile are two of the leading causes of crime, why not separate them? Except in unusual cases, for which legal provision could be made, teen-agers do not need cars. If the law required a high school diploma (or a minimum age of 20) before issuing driver's licenses, there would be strong motivation for students to remain in school. Accidents involving teenagers, notoriously the most dangerous of all drivers, would be substantially reduced, as would car thefts. Perhaps most important, teen-agers might stay home at night to study, thus helping to re-establish traditional family authority.

CHARLES GARDNER Chicago

Rising Sun

Sir: The Eastern mind and the Western mind are indeed different. Your excellent Essay "The Mind of China" [March 17] mentions some of the differences. They apply to all inheritors of the great Eastern civilizations. Behind so much of the economic and social stagnation in India and elsewhere is the passivity toward values outside those of family and community. There must be a reconciliation between Western values of materialism and individual liberty and the Eastern concept of a "cosmic rhythm" to which we are all subordinated. This balance has been struck most effectively since the war (and as a result of it) in Japan. It makes me look to that country as the emerging power that will lead the way economically and spiritually in the 21st century.

PREMINDRA SINGH London

The Real Picture

Sir: Re Letter Writer Helena Franklin's objections to your pictures of starved cattle and people in India [March 24]: I think this is dandy logic. On the strength of it we could all forevermore be spared having to look at pictures of that old shack the Taj Mahal. After all, it gives such a distorted idea of everyday life in India. Or have I missed somebody's meaning?

HAZEL E. HESTER Atlanta

Sir: I have lived in India 55 years in both Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where famine is threatening so severely. TIME's photographs are not only true but restrained. Miss Franklin writes that she admired what she considered the "grace and dignity" with which poor Indians endured their lot. Those who have lived among them call it apathy, a surrender, a giving up: they have faced starvation and privation too long.

MYRTLE F. FAUCETT Indianola, Iowa

The Napalm Question

Sir: Kudos to Dr. Rusk and TIME for exposing the napalm flap as bilge [March 24]. If few have questioned, surely thousands have suffered in silence the cruel allegation that service in Viet Nam turns decent young men into sadistic beasts. Preposterous. Until he was sent off to war, that serviceman was the son upstairs, the boy next door, the lad down the street. Taught to fight? Yes, but not to murder.

ANNE BROADWELL TAYLOR Cresskill, NJ.

Overload

Sir: Nowhere in your story about the President's trip to Guam [March 24] do I notice any criticism of the reckless procedure of loading a single plane with the key Administration men. When whole families travel by air, the members often take two planes. When key executives of corporations are destined for the same location, they often do the same. Should not the same common-sense precaution be taken when the President, his two most important Secretaries, and other highly important officials travel by plane?

GEORGE NEUMANN Centerport, L.I.

Gentleman's Agreement

Sir: For the record, it was Clifford Luton of the BBC who organized the aircraft to overfly Sir Francis Chichester rounding the Horn [March 31], and it was he who invited me along--an agreeable partnership between a gentleman's newspaper and a gentlemanly television service.

MURRAY SAYLE The Times London

Bury the Hatchet

Sir: You quite correctly call attention to the fact that at the current rate of logging of California's coastal redwoods, it will take only 15 to 20 years--barely a moment in the lives of these ancient giants--for the last stands of unprotected virgin trees to fall to the woodsman's ax [March 24]. In terms of establishing a Redwood National Park, the time is unquestionably shorter; without action in this 90th Congress no area of national park value may remain. But I challenge your implication that the 90,000-acre park plan backed by the Sierra Club is not realistic. This is the plan first recommended by the professional staff of the National Park Service. It contains the largest uncut block of unpreserved virgin redwoods. In this Congress, 20 Senators and 34 Representatives have joined Senator Lee Metcalf and me in sponsoring this plan. In view of time pressures and limited financial resources, compromise between the Administration and Sierra Club plans is necessary. A good two-unit national park that does not sacrifice important conservation values can be achieved if we act promptly. Our responsibility to the future citizens of this country demands that we do no less.

JEFFREY COHELAN Congressman from California Washington, D.C.

How to Stretch the Budget

Sir: Like Hubert Humphrey, I am one of fish protein concentrate's most enthusiastic fans [March 17]. At our secondary school, we serve the students traditional Central African fare: nsima (a porridge made from ground corn) and various (if scanty) meat and vegetable relishes--partly because "European" food is too expensive for our meager budget, but mostly because the students would refuse to eat anything else, even if we could afford it. Naturally, such a starchy diet breeds dietary deficiencies, but since we began lacing the meat juice with FPC, I have never seen the kids look so well. They are abundantly healthy and yet, living on traditional food without the superabundance of sugar and fat that we have in our Western diet, they will never see the tooth decay and overweight problems that plague their white counterparts.

MARY STEWART Canadian University Service Overseas Mazabuka, Zambia

Policeman's Lot

Sir: "How Much Force?" [March 24] is a germane question. However, I submit two thoughts: 1) It is not difficult for Monday-morning quarterbacks to condemn a police officer who, under great physical and emotional stress and in deadly combat with a deranged man, uses his service revolver to defend himself and the community he serves; but 2) it is difficult to understand why the public consistently vetoes improvements in training, salary and working conditions that would attract qualified applicants to the police service.

CHARLES F. RINKEVICH Savannah Beach, Ga.

Fan Mail

Sir: Your review of the Conniff-Considine-Jackie Kennedy love affair [March 24] neglected one thing: to name Considine the alltime top fan-magazine writer. If that series wasn't pure fan-book output, with its sappy descriptive reporting and maudlin handling, then this commentary deserves a Pulitzer Prize nomination at least. Gad!

Russ KING Manhattan

Scoring the Concert

Sir: Just because you did not like Foss's cello Concert [March 17] is no reason for name-calling and reasonless ridicule. I am not one of those who feel that "if it's new, it must be good," but I have a strong suspicion that the composer of Time Cycle and Echoi has not suddenly stopped writing masterpieces and started writing trash. Moreover, your review is strongly reminiscent of the derisive criticism that has greeted every major composer. One is reminded of Mozart's clarinet concerto ("Unfit for ladies' ears") and Beethoven's seventh symphony ("The death agonies of an eviscerated serpent"). ANDREW STILLER Madison

Sir: I would like to shake the hand of the author of "Pffhonk!" for his honest appraisal of the junk being handed us in the name of contemporary music. Are there no brains among composers capable of matching the ingenuity of those of the 18th and 19th centuries?

GEORGE H. LOWELL Highland Park, Ill.

Fortunes of War

Sir: "The Souvenir Detectors" [March 24] brought back nostalgic memories of the times when, as kids in a less sophisticated era, we went on these treasure hunts in Atlanta. Our method was to walk to the woods and grub around on our hands and knees for hours, our eyes on the ground. Pushing aside the matted undergrowth and rotting vegetation, we came upon many finds. My brother had quite a creditable collection of Minie balls, spent shells, uniform buttons, and other bits and pieces of unidentifiable metal left behind by Yankee soldiers during the Battle of Atlanta. However, the prize of his collection was a relic of an earlier war--an arrowhead crudely fashioned from a piece of quartz crystal. Somehow, our way sounds like more fun.

REBEKAH A. MCNEILL Birmingham, Mich.

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