Column descended into attack on religion
It was extremely disappointing to read former Assemblywoman Joan Quigley’s latest op-ed, “Religion plays too big a role in determining how people vote,” published last Tuesday, which is unmistakably hostile toward religion and those who follow them.
Ms. Quigley begins with implicit praise for the pluralism and tolerance which were (and still are) features of this great nation since its colonial days, and which in fact were what attracted most colonists in the 17th and 18th century who fled overt, state-sanctioned religious intolerance.
However, the longtime Hudson County Democrat then descends into explicit attack on religions -- singling out Christianity while seeding the column with references to former President Trump and “White Christians” (capitalization in her column) to hide and legitimize what some may consider a dog-whistle charge that Christians are racist. She writes, “Today too many leaders of all religions practice and preach hate,” but ignores the speck in her own eye by slandering all believers (Christians are merely the most numerous and hence the most convenient target) and impugning their character with among the worst motives known to mankind.
All great faiths teach beliefs that inform judgments of right and wrong. Perhaps because the church refuses to sanction her acts or beliefs (e.g., abortion) which explicitly contravene its teachings, she desires to retaliate by erasing the reminders of her errors, by seeking to confine religious beliefs and those who hold them to a new ghetto of weekly workship where they shall, in Ms. Quigley’s preference, be neither seen nor heard.
She demands the faithful be religious in private -- but secular in public.
Not only is she in error on both counts, but she takes the “cancel culture” purging one step further: Not only do religious beliefs disqualify one from public life, but one must be compelled to express the opposite of one’s beliefs. Such hatred and “strongman” abuses of state power will be familiar to students of religious persecution so common in the first half of the 20th century.
Ms. Quigley’s blatant animus against religions followed by many of her neighbors makes her particularly ill-suited either for public office (which she blessedly no longer holds) or run a taxpayer-supported “social services agency.” She must be called to account for the error of her ways by her neighbors, by the Democratic Party, and all faiths.
Eric Dixon, Esq., North Bergen
BHA staff looks out for seniors
As a resident of the senior citizen building at 30 E. 50th St. in Bayonne, I must say that the guys who do maintenance from the Bayonne Housing Authority do such a great job.
They don’t just clean up, but they help people with their bags when they come in. One of the guys, Ritchie, always looks out for me.
A few weeks ago, I slipped and fell in the bathtub and Ritchie told me to get myself checked out to make sure I was OK. And I was, thank God.
“Make sure you take your medicine, John,” he says to me.
I appreciate how they look out for us, and they do a good job.
John Yaddow, Bayonne
Thank you, Lord Abbett
On behalf of our 9/11 Memorial Committee of Jersey City, Inc., I’d like to thank Lord Abbett & Co. and Catherine Tantillo for the three beautiful flags they placed on our Jersey City 9/11 memorial site at the foot of Grand Street.
Joseph M. Napolitano Sr., Hasbrouck Heights
Scooters are a menance
They drive between cars on the road and parked cars. They drive on the road between moving cars in opposite directions. They run red lights. They ride on the streets and on the sidewalks. They go up one-way streets in the wrong direction. They do wheelies while traveling. They hit people and cars and keep going, and there is no way to identify them.
Yes, they seem to be impervious to the very laws that govern cars on our public streets.
An investigation by Consumer Reports (Feb. 6, 2019) revealed that there had been at least 1,545 accidents in the U.S. involving electric scooters over the previous year.
Even the two-wheel scooters, which are now battery powered, have invaded streets designed for cars.
Because of their careless driving and seeming disregard for the law, people have had accidents trying to avoid them. Yet, they are not held accountable on the streets.
It is proposed they should, at the least, be required to have permits to ride on the streets, carry a tag on their ride, just like a car or truck, and that they wear helmets. They should also be required to obey the traffic laws, such as red lights, STOP signs and one-way streets.
Wheelies on public streets should be forbidden and riders of three or more should be discontinued by law.
Our streets would be safer for them, for the driver of cars and trucks and pedestrians.
Dudley L. Griffith, Jersey City
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