Window Dressing

Through the looking glass:Regarding Bryan Noonan’s “Shots in the Dark” (February 17): Someone says the man punched out a Jeep side window? Hmmm. Front and rear window glass is laminated safety glass and can be damaged if you are strong enough and hit it hard enough, so maybe a real bruiser can crack it — but not penetrate it.

Side glass is tempered safety glass, however, and I suggest you call an auto-glass vendor and ask him what it takes to smash that sort of window. Better, ask to try it yourself on a pane the dealer is willing to let you take a swing at. I could be wrong here, but as a retired mechanic, my bet is that there is no way you will be able to break that glass with your fist. Or anyone else’s effort with a fist, either. It takes a sharp object (hammer, chisel, bullet, etc.) to bring tempered glass to fracture.

David Evans
Park Ridge, Illinois

Steeple Chase Jackass in the pulpit: If Jerry Johnston thinks marriage is “under attack,” maybe he should look at the divorce rate instead of scapegoating gay people for wanting equal rights (C.J. Janovy’s “Open Wide!” February 10). He can’t guarantee anything about a marriage amendment except the fact that it will deny a good portion of the population equal footing under the law. If stopping gay marriage is a cause worth dying for, why is freedom the only thing dying?

Johnston’s claim of homosexual marriage causing a cascade in sex education to elementary children is spurious. Unless things have changed significantly, I don’t recall receiving sex education until sixth grade or junior high school. Like so many other “religious leaders,” Jerry has chosen to prey on unfounded fears of gays “recruiting” children.

Jerry Johnston seems to think of himself and his “ministry” as the only true faith around. If that isn’t Jerry making himself Deceiver, what is?

Will Jones Kansas City, Missouri

Shove it:Your front cover displays a wide-eyed woman with a Bible thrust into her mouth, but after reading the article, all I could picture was a gullible KC reader with a Pitch shoved down her throat. If the Pitch has determined to do a “story” on you, they’ll do it with or without your consent, a practice no doubt comforting to those who believe that the end justifies the means in journalistic spin.

J.C. [sic] Janovy, having failed to get an interview with the Rev. Jerry Johnston of First Family Church, decided to cobble together an article with impressions from Topeka political demonstrations, observations of First Family Church services, a little tax-office investigation, and, of course, his [sic] own conclusions, based on his personal and professional integrity.

But Janovy’s tone, more than his ephemeral substance, raises the warning that his motives are suspect, his message distorted. Using Johnston’s message on the Deceiver, Janovy finds a way to accuse Johnston of deception. Finding Johnston’s statement on the impending success of a traditional marriage referendum to be gleeful gloating, Janovy displays his own understated glee in uncovering the reverend’s delinquent tax bill. Oh, the joy in finding sin in the life of those who acknowledge the reality of sin!

The article was primarily a skillful piece of deception, but there was one thing Janovy was dead right about: “It’s not just gay people and liberals he’s [Johnston’s] after.” As a member of the FFC congregation, we know that Jerry Johnston looks to God for his guidance, and God’s interest and commitment does not exclude yet far exceeds those populations.

Respectfully,

Jeff Townsend
Blue Springs

Editor’s note: After such a careful reading, Jeff, it might have occurred to you that C.J., who mentions being a lesbian, is a woman.

Bad religion: It’s interesting to see the relationships between groups such as Concerned Women for America and Sen. Sam Brownback and the messianic Jerry Johnston. These groups continue to push for an America that is dominated by a theocratic form of government and one that has little to do with democracy. Their attacks on minorities such as gays and their attempts to realize a discriminatory gay-marriage amendment underscore their desperate bid for political power.

I think one of the things we should be looking at as states (both in Kansas and Missouri) is whether these radical-right churches should continue to receive tax-exempt status. Johnston continues to get involved politically to the point where he is using his congregation as an active voting bloc while attempting to align himself with other churches for strategic reasons (to influence political outcomes and attempt to intimidate politicians who don’t vote the way he would like them to), and that comes very close to violating the separation of government from religion, as Jefferson and Madison warned.

Jeff Witt
Prairie Village

Fred state: I declare! After reading C.J. Janovy’s article, am I to assume the ilk of Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas, is getting a run for his money by the Rev. Jerry Johnston?