Lifestyle

Dear Madam Secretary, It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since Bill Clinton, then a 45-year-old governor of Arkansas, announced that he would run for the presidency of the United States. At the time, many people had never heard of your husband, although he had four times been elected to the governorship and he delivered a prime-time address nominating Michael Dukakis as the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate in Atlanta. Although the speech was widely panned, your hubby cleverly accepted an invite to appear on Johnny Carson, where he promptly and joyously lampooned himself. The future looked bright: Bill Clinton wasn’t only a moderate southerner on whom the Democrats could rely for political success following three Republican routs in 1980, 1984 and 1988, but his star power was...

Dear President Daniels: We are writing in response to the recent news reports about emails you wrote while governor of Indiana. In those emails, you criticized the historian Howard Zinn and his work, and you sought to find ways to “get rid of” Zinn’s ideas in Indiana schools. However much we disagree with your past statements, we are more troubled by the fact that you continue to express these views today, especially since you are now speaking as the chief representative of Purdue University with the responsibility to embody the best of academic inquiry and exchange. We appreciate the fact that you have articulated your support for the idea of academic freedom for tenured professors, but such reassurances do not go far enough. In this letter, we’d like to explain what we find so...

Dear Steven, Let me start out by saying that this space is usually full of fun and light heartedness. I don’t troll the internet looking for Pastors to bash or criticize, but today this is a place for accountability. This is meant in love; the type of love shown in Galatians 6:1-2. I’ve stewed over this for the last week, ever since the news broke about the million dollar home you’re building in our community. I’ve fought over writing this — going back and forth over whether I should or shouldn’t. I’m sure I’ll receive much scrutiny from this, especially from those who attend your church and are backing your decisions. But, I’ve come to realize that Christ’s name is more important than mine. As a pastor’s wife, I fully understand the weight your title carries. I fully...

Dear Mr. Trump, Whether one has asked God for forgiveness is not a difficult question. It is black or white, either you have or haven’t. It may require one to give a difficult answer and that is something you provided. Admitting that you haven’t asked God for forgiveness to a group of largely evangelicals was a brave thing to do. I am not disappointed, angry or even surprised. I appreciate your honesty. Whether or not that answer disqualifies you to be President, I’ll leave for individual voters to decide. To me there are more important matters than who wins the White House. I was confronted with this question myself once in basic training, and then again as a college student at Drake University. Both times I concluded I needed God’s forgiveness, on the second occasion I...