Dialogue on religion long overdue

To the editor:

Please allow me to thank Carren Thomas for her letter printed in the January 17 issue of The River Reporter. She was indeed correct to point out my firm stance regarding religion. In fact, a rigorous public dialogue about religion is long overdue.

During our lifetime, politics and religion have become lumped together. Were they ever separate? And today, religion has become radical. Was it ever not? But today, “believers” fly jumbo jets into towering buildings; Hindus, Jews, and Muslims threaten each other with nuclear warheads not swords; and Christian leaders are fighting two wars—a self-described crusade. Our president, who claims a “personal relationship with our creator,” recently evoked World War Three. Is this also a “tirade against religion” or is this simply our reality?

Religious moderates create the tacit acceptance for extreme fundamentalist behavior. Yes, “the church has come a long way,” because it had no choice. For example, we were born into a world with nine planets, and today hundreds of planets are being observed, and many solar systems too. God didn’t “create the world” in six days, and now there’s overwhelming proof of evolution in the recent map of the human genome. Things change; so must we.

Religion has completely outlived its usefulness. The “creator of the world” is us. The current wars, terrorism and the climate crisis call upon us to question the influence of religion, the way we look at the world and the way we look at each other. We are all on this tiny planet together, and religion is making it impossible to find common ground.

Following “signs,” and “one-issue” voting simply will not do any longer. It would be “shame on me” if I did not speak up at this urgent time.

Pat Carullo

Leaving kids out in the cold

To the editor:

On January 14, a letter went home with the students of the Eldred Junior/Senior High School stating that as of January 22, the late bus will follow a predetermined route and students will be dropped off only at specified drop-off points. They will be left there to walk home—

in some cases, miles home.

Our district covers over 100 square miles, including the towns of Highland, Lumberland and parts of Tusten and Deerpark. Each late bus route is approximately 20 miles long, leaving those students farthest from the school with no options.

On a clear day 40 degrees or warmer, on roads with a well-maintained shoulders, yes, perhaps a student could walk home. But let’s get real. For example, the road I chose to live on is rural, unpainted, with no shoulder and a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. What if it’s raining? Snowing? Below 0º? We are talking about “late buses” that leave the school around 4:10 p.m., so by the time my student would be at the designated drop-off point it would be 4:45 p.m., with still a mile to walk home. I am not alone here; I have neighbors and friends with school-aged children who are in the same situation.

This comes on the heels of a decision last year to enact a new attendance policy that mandates that any student who misses school for an unexcused absence (for example, a family vacation) stay after school two hours for each missed day. Require them to stay after school, then not provided adequate, safe transportation home? What are they thinking?

This policy puts our children at risk. Just last week in Port Jervis a male was reported to have tried twice, unsuccessfully, to lure two middle-school-aged girls into his car. This policy includes our middle-school-aged children.

Don’t wait until a student is harmed. Please contact the superintendent, principal and/or transportation director at once.

The purpose of the school board

To the editor:

This quote was in an article about the Delaware Valley School Board in the December 21 issue of the Del.Aware, the Delaware Valley High School student newspaper. It’s worth sharing the words of school board president Bob Goldsack with members of the community who may not see the Del.Aware:

“We do not serve the students, we serve their parents and other taxpayers.”

It’s a sad day when a school board doesn’t serve the students.