Protecting Purloined Art
It is interesting that, apparently, none of the countries cited in “A Goddess Goes Home” thanked the United States museums for buying artwork and keeping it safe in climate-controlled conditions. Yes, it’s wrong that items were stolen and sold, but I wonder what would have happened had they not been acquired by major museums. And though I sympathize with Greece concerning the Elgin marbles, I doubt the country can currently afford to safeguard the treasures.
Jane Maule
St. Louis, Missouri
Deadly Poachers
Thank you for your excellent article on rhino poaching in South Africa [“Defending the Rhino”]. As a private landowner with a breeding pair of white rhinos, I wish to point out that an additional risk, along with financial and conservation concerns, is personal security. The presence of rhinos on one’s land invites a criminal element that will not blink at the thought of hurting or even killing dedicated staff that might try to prevent poachers from seizing the animals.
Louis Van Der Merwe
Johannesburg, South Africa
Religious Freedom
Smithsonian Magazine is to be commended for publishing Joshua Hammer’s story concerning the history and persecution of the Copts in Egypt [“Aftershocks”]. Much of the mainstream media ignore what is happening to Christian minorities in Middle Eastern countries. I fear for the future of Iraq because its constitution does not establish genuine freedom of religion. A religious freedom clause in the constitution is weakened by a declaration in the document that the official religion of the country is Islam and that no law can contradict its teachings. Freedom of religion is a necessary and fundamental element in any democracy.
Stephen W. Leonard
Vidalia, Georgia
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Comments (1)
RE LETTER FROM VEDALIA:
Mr. Leonard's letter (January 2012) leaves me feeling that his applause would not have been inspired had you published a story revealing the persecution of Jews or atheists in Egypt instead of one revealing the persecution of a particularly odd sect of that particularly odd greater sect of Christianity.
It may be true to say that freedom of religion is fundamental to democracy, but so is freedom FROM religion. The great American experiment is under threat from many quarters and your house is badly, perhaps fatally, divided, as we know; but Insofar as the matter of the religion/democracy debate is concerned, the main point is that democracy, where there is no true and firm national commitment to the separation of church and state, as was intended by your Founding Fathers, is a fraud.
Neville Wells (Kingston Ontario Canada)
Posted by Neville Wells on January 20,2012 | 01:54 PM