Dear editor,

Thank you for your newsletter dated November 20, 2004.

We are pleased to be receiving the news articles so often from "The Witness." It is of great understanding that we Anglican Church in the Diocese of New Guinea Islands in the Province of Papua New Guinea would like to be continually updated with such news of the church, world events, and political issues.

Having receiving your email newsletter this morning, we would like to thank you for the updates of such events. Moreover, we thank God for his direction and blessing upon the work you have done and we pray that his continual guidance be upon the good work you have done for the church.

God Bless,
Simon Kamong, Diocesan Secretary, New Guinea Islands

Dear editor,

Thank you for the recent articles published by "The Witness" addressing environmental issues in the post-election context. At one level, George Bush's 2004 election confirms an unconsciousness in the American soul with respect to the stewardship of creation. That is, I think that only by the mind's slight of hand could one have voted for Mr. Bush given his administration's environmental policies.

I am focusing only on the crisis coming with respect to the environment, and not the war or other pressing issues, in order to say that I think this is really paramount, and will increasingly been seen as such. It would be seen as such now if we were not in a collective pact to "look away."

For me, the implications of this election are two-fold: I must concentrate on the environmental issues even more, and I must concentrate on them as essentially spiritual/emotional/psychological in nature.

For example, I live in a state that has the highest rate of SUV ownership per capita in the U.S. Only one small town in Alabama gets snow on any regular basis, and these SUVs, when I see them, are not covered with mud from negotiating rural tracks. They are usually occupied by only one person.

Over the last six months, a great number of the luxury SUVs I see have been sporting a pro-Bush sticker that is a white-bordered black square with a "W" in the center. Under the "W" it says, "The President." I notice that older model cars, sedans, non-luxury sorts, usually show their support of Bush with a "traditional," rather dowdy sticker that says, "Bush/Cheney." So I've concluded that the "W" is about being part of a club, a club in which the luxury SUV is also a marker of belonging.

So, these SUVs are signs of spiritual/emotional conditions, and do not reflect real need. This indicates to me that my response should be pastoral, prophetic, compassionate, that is, spiritual as well.

Peace,
Mark Andrus, Bishop Suffragan of Alabama

Dear editor,

The political failure of "progressives" and those leaning in that direction became narrowly evident with the poll counts after the national and regional elections on the first Tuesday of November 2004.

However, the exit polls showed that Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) voted largely for Kerry-Edwards. With the Republican result, are the APAs thereby written off by political pontificators? I think not. Block-voting has come into our ethnic sphere. Thus, commending our community will be far more effective then by condemnation, rejection or neglect. We ourselves will be better off to accentuate the positive than by descending into the darkness of complaint.

The reservoir of liberal compassion must nevertheless be released -- in action -- by our communities in Christ so that the well of faith will water the land, the hope of healing motivate research, the cleansing light of love dispel darkness, and the power of love empower us with limitless energy!

Theologizing should positively excite us into seeing these truths in depth, causing us to pray fervently, give generously, and act altruistically.

For our nation to survive under God, those who adopted the way of "faith-based 'initiatives'" must arouse moral action. "Conservative" Christians must get beyond their unbalanced, fearful emphasis on narrowly-construed "moral choices" focused on anti-abortion, opposition to embryonic stem-cell research, and homophobic antipathy to same-sex relationships. Rather, they must give way to actions that arouse them to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick, revive the despondent, and house the homeless -- that their "faith" will not remain dead, without works, but that their myopic fixations will give way to show the truth that "God is love" -- after all! This litany applies equally to those who come from the "social action" tradition. God saves each one of us to serve others, not merely for our individual eternal reward, but for the saving of the whole household of God -- now and forever!

Then the bi-partisan horizon will become evident to all. We can, we must, march together into the 21st century. We have to be "One nation under God . . . with liberty and justice for all!"

(The Rev.) Timothy Nakayama, Seattle, Wash.