The “off the cuff” column on February 8, 1972 included a remark about abortion which was countered by two letter writers to the Door County Advocate
Off the cuff
By CHAN HARRIS
The Pack drafted a guy 6 ft. tall and 290 lb. Must be a “wide” receiver.
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Stolen: With television when the advertising comes on everybody runs to the bathroom. With newspapers you can take the advertising with you.
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Peter Jung says his granddaughter read ‘Walden’ Thoreauly.
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If Don Sidney ever loses a finger he’ll have to move to Channel 4.
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Some people who argue against abortion approve of capital punishment. Figure that one out. We is life.
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Will the big, young age bloc trust each other when they’re all over 30?
[These were the only two letters I found that responded to Chan Harris. Eunice Alen was married to Irving Allen; she was born in Ellison Bay and married him on October 10, 1953 at Sturgeon Bay Baptist Church, now First Baptist Church-Sturgeon Bay. Balsam Lake is near the Twin Cities. The letter’s heading was chosen by the Advocate and was prejudicial against her along religious/political lines, so the editor for the Advocate must have disagreed. Had the editor agreed, he could have titled it “Justice” instead.
Lester W. Pfister was a WWII veteran who lived in Sturgeon Bay. His closing remark about “people who study World History” could relate in some way to his service.]
February 25, 1972
VENGEANCE
I cannot let your statement in a recent Advocate go unchallenged. I find no difficulty in understanding why people who argue against abortion would approve of capital punishment.
Life is life at any age. Life is man’s most precious possession and cannot be restored once it has been taken. Justice demands a penalty to fit the crime. A person who deliberately destroys another person’s life deserves to die.
My only authority is the Word of God and God demands justice and righteousness. Read the 20th chapter of Exodus and the 20th chapter of Leviticus, using “The Living Bible” paraphrase for clarity, and you will find many candidates for capital punishment. To list a few: “Anyone who kills a man shall be put to death,” “Anyone who curses his parents shall be put to death.” If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both shall be put to death. The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties (our society wants to condone their behaviour). The Bible says they have brought it upon themselves.
Nothing specific is said about abortion in Scripture. Perhaps it was not a problem at that time. If God’s laws were obeyed would it be a problem now? How foolish for people to think that an act legalized by human courts would be approved by God.
Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind... Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The whole of the Law...depends on these two commandments.” One who loves God and his neighbor will not steal, will not kill and will not commit adultery.
John said in his Epistle, “It is only when we obey God’s laws that we can be quite sure that we really know him. The man who claims to know God but does not obey his laws is not only a liar but lives in self-delusion. Obedience is the test of whether we really live “in God” or not.”
If God would demand a death penalty for the murderer, the adulterer and the homosexual what do you think the penalty would be for the abortionist or the woman who wants the life within her destroyed? The fact is “she brought it upon herself.”
MRS. IRVIN ALEN|
Balsam Lake, Wis.
March 9, 1972
NOT THE SAME
There is a big difference in the thinking of liberals and conservatives. In your Off the Cuff column you stated that life is life and to a large extent it is true but There is a world of difference between abortion and capital punishment. Abortion is the taking of an innocent life while capital punishment is the removal from society not of human beings but of vicious animals who have forfeited the right to life.
Every murderer should be executed within one year of the day of conviction not to punish them but to remove them from society so that other innocent people will be safe. In movies, stories and in songs we have always glorified the gunslinger and ignored the peace officer and law abiding citizen and in this century we are only harvesting the foolishness we have been sowing for years.
A democracy can only survive if nearly all of its people exercise self control and self discipline and when these have become a thing of the past among too many people of a nation then you can be sure that such a nation will soon be controlled by a dictator.
It has happened to several nations in this century and it will happen to us if we do not wake up and begin to punish criminals instead of coddling them for any government that can not control or will not control its criminals is on its way out. It will be replaced by a government that will control its people. One has only to look at Russia to see that this is true. This is why the Red government will survive when democracy will be only a memory.
I often wonder about people who study World History. They are well educated and have spent so many hours of their time studying it but have learned so little from it.
LESTER W. PFISTER
All are courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Posts about protecting unborn babies:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/protecting-unborn-babies
Articles relating to churches:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/churches
Articles written by Chan Harris:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/chan-harris
Communism-related posts:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/communism