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The dangers, grossly exaggerated, shrink to insignificance alongside the real and demonstrable perils of nicotine and alcohol consumption. The world would be vastly better off were, say, mescaline placed upon the market and alcohol removed from it.
R. E. L. MASTERS Director
The Julian Press Library of Sex Research New York City
Faith & Prejudice
Sir:
The largest unorganized minority group in the U.S. is the Protestants. Following Christ's command to save our lives by losing them, we have championed the causes of peace, disarmament, economic justice, sobriety, desegregation, and tolerance. One cause we have failed to champion is Protestantism.
Thus, lacking a defensive posture, we are the happy hunting ground of the liberals. The Administration blames "the basic Puritan ethic of the American people" for impeding economic growth. Sociologists regularly castigate the "Protestant ethos" as the source of our social ills. Organized racial groups accuse Protestantism of being the fountainhead of prejudice and discrimination. Now comes Dr. Bernhard Olson [March 29] with his elaborate book on how the Protestant Sunday School is the breeding ground of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism, despite the fact that both Judaism and Catholicism have flourished in Protestant America.
HARVEY N. CHINN Sacramento, Calif.
Bali How?
Sir:
On Monday I was flightseeing Gunung Agung and also Denpasar, learning firsthand about the volcano's eruption.
Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Singapore reading still-garbled accounts in local newspapers of the extent of the damage. Thursday, Hong Kong's dailies were just beginning to sort fact from fantasy.
At noon I bought a copy of TIME [March 29] at a Hong Kong newsstand and read the clearest, most accurate account of the disaster available in this part of the world.
You turned out a straighter story than did media only four jet hours from the disaster scene.
Don't tell me how you really did it—I like to believe in legerdemain.
MARTIN B. PRAY U.S. Travel Service American Embassy Tokyo
* Author (Kings and Camels).