Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

November 8, 2012

Letters to the Editor: 11/08/2012

----

Share human encounter

Yes, the homeless are among us.

And we share a conviction as citizens of a great country that during an economic recession we are called on to offer basic care and dignity to those who struggle for food and shelter.

But as people of faith there is more; our deeper call is to see those struggling as our very kin, worth valuing, knowing and encouraging.

So we share services, meals, warm buildings and human encounter.

We get know our guests by their names.

This effort is not easy or perfect; still, we follow one who gave us the simplest of marching orders: "Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

The Rev. Dale Ostema

The Rev. Chris Lane

Traverse City

The writers are pastors at Central United Methodist Church.

Learn for yourself

Regarding the Oct. 21 article headlined "Rep. wants U.N. treaty out. Michigan lawmaker aims to ban Agenda 21 with July bill."

I want to urge your readers to research Agenda 21 for themselves.

Especially the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative, known as (ICLEI), founded at the United Nations in 1990 for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of worldwide sustainable development policies on local, government levels.

When asked if our rights derived from the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights clashed with Agenda 21, Harvey Rubin, Vice Chair of ICLEI's Executive Board, is quoted as saying, "Individual rights must take a back seat to the collective."

This statement alone, plus the fact that Traverse City, along with Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Ferndale, are listed as members on ICLEI's web site, http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=11454 , should give people pause to learn more about Agenda 21 and ICLEI.

Priscilla Miller

Alden

Text Only

Opinion Poll

AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting