Worshiping themselves

George Rock (Letters, Feb. 7) imagines that those who don’t worship God worship themselves. How insulting! Just maybe some of us put two and two together and found no God at all! The God-proofs I’ve seen range from naive (blissful ignorance of well-known errors) to “creative” (psychological needs overruling disciplined reason) to confused smoke-and-mirrors logic (think William Lane Craig) that convinces only the home crowd. A few ancient arguments worked well in their day but are now obsolete. Missing is one convincing argument.

Theologians sometimes admit there is no proof of God whom, they assure us, may be taken on faith. Do reach your own conclusions, preferably after some honest study.

— Dave E. Matson, Pasadena

Gradual secularization

Kudos to George Rock for his common-sense response to the Question of The Week regarding mass shooting. Mental illness and secular narcissism (world revolves around me) are the basic causes that politicians will not acknowledge and address. I am 72 years old, and gun ownership has been around my whole life. Mass shootings became a societal issue in only the last generation. What changed? Not gun ownership. Lack of funding for mental health care and the gradual secularization of our society is what changed. Until those issues are discussed by people who can think rationally (not emotionally) with common sense, there will not be viable solutions. California wants to ban retired police officers with CCW permits from carrying firearms at crowded venues; more foolish naivete.

— David Miles, Walnut

Zoom juries

Saw the article about Pasadena governments allowing for more remote participation at some of their council and board meetings. I think this is an excellent idea. I believe there will be a rise in the number of people willing to participate and have their voices heard. I also think that this is something that should be considered by our court systems for persons being called in for jury duty. I understand it is something that we as citizens are obligated to. But forcing those who genuinely cannot attend with threats of fines and jail time is just not right. They too would see an upsurge of participants if we could fulfill our obligation via Zoom, rather than being inconvenienced by going downtown.

— Jennifer Garcia, Pasadena

Down with MAGA

The MAGA crowd’s response to the State of the Union Speech by the president showed a new low of civility.

As a proud American citizen, there is no place for this disgraceful MAGA childish behavior. Interrupted multiple times by jeering, boos and accusations of lying in shameful GOP outbursts, our president gamely endured the challenge and even called them out over threats to refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless cuts are made to Social Security and Medicare. This led to an detestable outburst by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called the president “a liar.” This is not the place for such disgusting, low-level behavior.

— Richard French, Pasadena

Student athletes

Larry Wilson’s column (Feb. 5) on paying student athletes to play shows how biased the system is in favor of student athletes.

Yes, the schools make money off the athletes, but they are getting benefits also. Student athletes are given scholarships for housing, books and meals. They are given access to training, nutrition and television exposure. Most choose their school on exposure not on the quality of their education. This applies to football players, mostly. They can leave early to join the draft or to transfer to another school, leaving the school to absorb the cost of the students scholarship.

Let us treat the situation as a business. The student athlete signs a contract to play sports. If they leave the program, they must pay back the cost of the scholarship. Leaving the program because of injury is excluded from the payback penalty. Should the student athletes be paid? Yes. But they should be held to a standard that every other businessman is required to uphold.

Let’s be honest — Caleb Williams did not transfer to USC from Oklahoma just to follow his coach. But as Caleb’s father said, NFL before NIL.

— Paul Long, Whittier