Monday's letters: Church, state less separate, Sarasota welcome, desperate women, more

Decisions signal religious bent on court

Among its continuing run of bad decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to blur the separation of church and state.

Tax dollars can now be used to support religious schools, even though churches pay no taxes.

A coach is now permitted to lead prayers on the football field, after the game, pressuring all team members to participate.

More: How to send a letter to the editor

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.

Michael McGuire, Sarasota

Plan openly for performing arts halls

Much has been written and said about the new Sarasota Performing Arts Center, its agreement with the city of Sarasota and the fate of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

On the other hand, not much has been said about the SPAC’s power to select the architect and design of the new center; who exactly will be on the “Blue Ribbon Committee” that will decide the future of the Van Wezel; and a number of other details about the project.

Nor has much been said about how SPAC will keep the Sarasota City Commission and the public apprised of its thinking and decisions. This is something that the residents of Sarasota should be raising their voices about sooner rather than later.

The SPAC is within the Bay Park Conservancy, which has been exemplary in following an inclusive and open process. Hopefully, the SPAC will follow suit.

Alan Dee, Sarasota

No fair pulling in the welcome mat

I’ve lived in Sarasota for approximately 60 of my 70 years.

I remember the clickety-clack of driving over the old wooden Ringling Bridge. I remember when there was little more than Australian pines and the derelict superstructure of John Ringling’s Ritz Hotel on Longboat Key.

I remember the pecky cypress building the Sarasota Players used to perform in.

And I especially remember, through all the progress of the last 60 years, that Sarasota has always remained a town that was welcoming of one and all.

I was surprised then, that a letter writer would recommend for Sarasota to become “unwelcoming” to people, but especially to those people, “those blue city refugees” (“Too many refugees from lawless blue cities,” July 1).

I was surprised even if the writer’s intent was to write something that was darkly tongue-in-cheek, which it probably was.

I’m a bit curious to know how long ago the letter writer moved here – seeking refuge in Sarasota to enjoy the sun, the sand and all the other wonderful qualities that our community has to offer.

Oh, and yeah, welcome, we’re glad you’re here.

Leslie U. Hall, Longboat Key

Ruling means desperation for pregnant women

The headline on a letter July 3 was “Facts: What does the abortion ruling mean?”

In trying to “inform the uninformed,” the letter writer makes a number of misleading statements.

He states: “The SCOTUS decision does not prohibit abortion.” No knowledgeable person would make that claim.

What the decision did was to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that protected a constitutional right to an abortion based on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

The writer claims that the decision does not infringe on the right to gay marriage or contraception. However, in his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that, using the same rationale, those rights, plus the right to same-sex consensual relations, should be overturned.

The writer says the ruling “merely returns the issue to the states.”

“Merely” means 26 Republican gerrymandered states that are moving to ban abortions. The only concern of forced pregnancy advocates is for the fetus; the mother is collateral damage.

Florida and 11 other states did not expand Medicaid. None provide adequate assistance to low-income citizens, leaving new mothers and their children in desperate straits for years, often with terrible consequences for them and for our society.

F. Lowell Curtis, Longboat Key

Abortion opponent betrays her gender

The writer of “Never fear, women will get abortions,” July 3, trots out the same old horror stories of abortionists dismembering cute and cuddly babies to try to lay guilt on the women who, for a thousand different reasons, undergo the procedure.

For a woman to attack her gender in this way shows that women’s rights continue to be under threat of removal by a theocratic state government, creating legislation guided by religious rules and not by our Constitution.

David Coe, Sarasota

Live the life of an originalist in 2022

The Supreme Court first assembled on Feb. 1, 1790, in the Exchange Building in New York City, then the nation’s capital.

If Justice Clarence Thomas wants to be an originalist, let him be one. Turn off the AC, shut down the phones, get rid of the computers and go back to quill pens.

Then he can be a true originalist!

Norman R. Wirtz, Nokomis

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Blurring separation of church and state, welcome all to Sarasota