Objecting to Pitts’ conclusion

I am grateful to The Gazette for carrying Leonard Pitts' excellent columns. His voice is especially needed today as an antidote to the steady stream of partisan venom that comes from your columnists on the far right: Charles Krauthammer, Jonah Goldberg and Ben Carson.

But I strongly object to the one-sidedness of Pitts' column, 'Again, Christianity last to get it right” (April 6). Devoting nearly all of his essay to World Vision's decision to resume barring Christians in same-sex marriages from working there, he draws a sweeping conclusion: 'On issues where it should take the lead, challenging the status quo, actively advocating for human dignity, the great body of Christendom always seems to bring up the rear.” Here he refers to 'churches (like Southern Baptists) apologizing 30 years after the Civil Rights Act (of 1964) for supporting segregation.”

I remember those days quite differently. Sen. Hubert Humphrey often stated that the Civil Rights Act would never have passed if not for the relentless and effective lobbying of religious organizations across America, from the National Council of Churches to the American Friends Service Committee.

Christian lobbying organizations such as Bread for the World and Sojourners continue that activist thrust for justice today, doing the very things Pitts advocates.

Allen Fisher

Cedar Rapids