Readers tend to love or despise OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul. Here’s the latest on their letters.
“I enjoy all your columns they publish in the (Biloxi, MS) Sun Herald, but this morning’s column was particularly enjoyable,” wrote Ms. Carole A. Dunn of Ocean Springs, MS. This praise came in a page-long letter in response to Academic Diversity on the Supreme Court, in which Kaul said he didn’t think Elena Kagan should become the next Supreme Court justice because she went to Harvard. It’s always nice to get mail from our fans in these days of instant everything, especially when they have a sense of humor.
Meanwhile, Kaul’s tongue-in-cheek God’s to Blame Too column, in which he called on Americans to stop blaming everything on government, attracted attention in the letters sections of the Springfield (MO) News-Leader and the Marshall (MN) Independent.
“Dear gentle readers, Do you know how you can tell when you have socialists on the run? When they start blaming God for their inadequacies,” intones Michael R. Peters of Springfield, Missouri. “Father’s promised ‘reward,’ Don, is eternal life. His punishment is eternal damnation – that’s Hell, Don. The rest He leaves up to us, and, unfortunately, people like Donald Kaul, Barack Obama, et al.”
The News-Leader granted a “rose” to Kaul “for his satiric and thoughtful column about whom to blame for misfortunes in life, government or God.” The paper issued a “thorn” “to those to those who missed his wit and point.”
The same column triggered the Independent to run a lengthy letter that quoted scripture. “I can always count on him to write something stupid, but this time he outdid himself. Perhaps he never read the old testament book of Judges, or the prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They illustrate how God chose the Israelites to demonstrate His blessings for obedience, and the cost of doing it your own way, which usually turns outs to be wrong,” wrote Cliff Reed, of Marshall, Minnesota. “Just remember, there are no prophets left to talk Him out of giving us the Sodom and Gomorrah treatment when He finally gets fed up with us.”
