LETTERS: THOMAS MISSES MARK ON NATION'S SUFFERING

To the editor:

I beg leave to straighten out Cal Thomas, who speculated in his July 31 column that the nation is suffering through an era of terroristic attacks not because our methods of preventing them are not effective enough, but rather because our nation needs to get right with God. He defers to Abraham Lincoln, who said nations, like individuals, "are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world." Strange talk, coming as it does from the one man who could have chosen not to go to war.

Lincoln was a perspicacious man, but if he was under the impression that all rogues are doomed to misery and all saints are slated for happiness, then he must have sometimes not been a careful observer of life. Who among us has not seen someone who in his life has followed all the rules, has worked hard, who has never failed to be kind to strangers and acquaintances alike, and still has died in poverty and pain, leaving nothing behind for his family? And who among us has not seen this same saint's even twin die fat, happy, content and full of years? Thomas at this point will snort and tell us that for individuals, the reward or punishment comes after death. Well, as long as we have Thomas' word for it, what more could we possibly require?

I think it equally silly to assume that nations are doomed for the transgressions of some of its citizens. Can it not be that civilizations, like individuals, have finite lifespans? Thomas opines that this nation might be doomed because of 34 million (his figure) aborted babies. I consider the holocaust which our leaders, conservatives and wishy-washy liberals alike, inflicted on Southeast Asia to be a far more damning blot on the nation's escutcheons, but I'll bet the rent that Thomas was an enthusiastic little pom-pon girl for that project.

Finally, Thomas indirectly quotes an unnamed Montana preacher to the effect that "a nation that remains silent about God soon hears the voice of violence." Excuse me. Can someone cite a single war that has not involved ostensibly God-fearing people led by ostensibly God-fearing leaders? Silence about God is a rare commodity indeed. For securing peace in the world, I suggest that atheists could not do a worse job than the Bible-thumpers have so far. Talk about unjustified smugness.

DONN S. MILLER

Tamms, Ill.