Re: The Optimist, Oct. 27 Letter “Republican offended by quote” from Jeremy Pond

I’m writing to clarify the controversy that has arisen concerning my alleged remarks in the Oct. 20th Optimist issue regarding the political parties and Christianity. Specifically, I’m addressing Mr. Jeremy Pond and his admonishing editorial.

I’ll say it as plainly as I can. I did not say that quote the way it was written. I spoke with Sarah Carlson, who wrote the article, after this controversy began, and she stands with me on this. I also spoke with the College Republicans this week, and they too understand.

If anybody took offense, that was not intended. Several quotes were cut, and a misrepresentation is what remained. I’d like to make clear that I do not blame Miss Carlson because, as a former newspaper reporter myself, I understand the difficulties that come with the job and the changes that are made for publishing purposes.

So I hope that people will not judge me nor the College Democrats for this mistake. Mr. Pond, I regret that we could not clarify this matter before you spent some of your valuable time responding to this non-issue.

Amy Perez
president ACU College Democrats
sophomore interdisciplinary major from Houston

I have to agree, from a Democratic perspective, that the quote by Amy Perez was out of line. Neither party is more or less Christian than the other. But the assertion that Christ didn’t say it was the government’s duty to take care of the needy is somewhat weighted. He didn’t assign any responsibilities to the governments, including the enforcement of morality. So any legislation based on His teachings falls into the same category.

I think that it is every individual’s responsibility to take care of the poor, as you said. The problem is that it’s not happening. So the next step is to put the government in charge of it. And if I’m going to be paying taxes, I’d rather they benefit poor people.

Charles Jones
senior youth and family ministry major from Lewisville