September 4, 2020

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

As I read Mark Wingfield’s article on Fulton vs Philadelphia, I was once again reminded of how stunned I have been that so many of my Baptist brethren have both accepted money from the government and encouraged others to do so as well.

While I fully understand the financial hardships of the present day and the impact the coronavirus has had on religious institutions, accepting these funds smacks of selling one’s birthright for a mess of pottage. Our forebears, I am sure, are rolling over in their graves, especially the ones here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. They went to prison rather than bend a knee to the government. Us? Not so much.

When the government pays you, it owns you. We give up our right to self-determination the day the check comes in the mail. Does this lead to difficult and even painful choices? Yes. But better to remain free than owned.

Kirby D. Smith, Midlothian, Va.