Christians are being persecuted across the globe. Where is the media outrage? | Opinion
Religious persecution
American news media barely cover religious persecution of Christians. Despite this lack of attention, the persecution continues, with increasing violence and killings.
In Africa, many of the attacks originate from radical terrorist groups. Recently, a Christian church in the Congo was burned and worshipers murdered. Gruesome killings of Christians also occurred at the hands of radical Islamists in Mozambique.
In the Middle East, in countries which once had large Christian minority populations, persecution originates from anti-Christian governmental policies. North Korea and China severely repress Christianity. China also represses Muslim Uighurs, a minority group.
While some in the U.S. Congress fight religious persecution, this issue requires more media attention and pressure from the United States to protect religious houses of worship, worshippers and all religious minorities from the escalating violence.
Tim Seale,
Miami
Deadly distortions
The recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is the clearest warning yet that health misinformation is more than a nuisance — it is deadly. The shooter’s misguided fury was fueled by anti-vaccine conspiracies, echoing the long-debunked myth linking vaccines to autism.
As a neuroscientist and autism advocate, I see daily how these falsehoods inflict stigma on neurodivergent families, erode public trust and spark fear — even violence — against our most vital institutions.
This tragedy shows the urgent need for radical transparency and empathy in science communication. We must push back against lies, center lived experience and defend neurodiversity and evidence-based medicine with relentless clarity.
Officer David Rose’s sacrifice reminds us what’s at stake. Let us respond not with silence, but with courageous advocacy for truth.
David Ruttenberg,
founder, CEO,
Phoeb-X,
Boca Raton
No riot squad?
President Trump recently signed an executive order to federalize the Capitol Police in Washington, D.C.
Why didn’t he take this action for the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection?
There were angry mobs and criminals aplenty there.
Connie Goodman-Milone,
MIami
Our burden
After reading Mary Anna Mancuso’s Aug. 1 op-ed, “Scotland’s protests should concern every American,” I’m still not sure why we should be concerned. She did a fine job listing Donald Trump’s personal and business travesties and atrocities and his official ones during his first and now second term as president.
Perhaps Mancuso wants us to separate the man from the office. I don’t know how to do that, because he is the office! There has been no better illustration of that since French King Louis XIV allegedly uttered his famous, “L’État, c’est moi.”
Trump has co-opted almost all Congressional Republicans. His hand-selected cabinet bows to him, as does the Supreme Court. He governs by whim and fiat, issueing executive orders as he feels appropriate. There is no democratic process for him.
Mancuso says we need to “respect the office.” I agree, but her words are better directed at Trump, as he definitely does not respect the office nor the American people, nor most anyone. It’s all transactional with him, but not equally; he always has to get the better part of the “deal” he makes and he usually does.
Some readers may remember the 1958 political novel (and the 1963 film), “The Ugly American.” When American travelers abroad have acted arrogantly and insensitively to other cultures, they have been dubbed “ugly.” None, however, surpass Trump as the ugliest. He is “Ugly America.” No distinction, no separation.
The people of our precious nation must awaken and throw off this cruel and ugly burden. The people of Scotland and the entire world already understand this.
Marcia Braun,
Miami Springs
Vultures everywhere
While reading the Aug. 10 Herald article, “‘Criminals in Power’: Members of Congress react to news of Cuban military’s secret hoard,” I supplanted the names in the story with those in the Trump administration and they fit perfectly.
A crook is a crook is a crook ad infinitum.
Monica Harvey,
Miami Shores
Easy money
I laughed when I read of congressional Republican outrage at the billions of dollars hoarded by the ruling Cuban military.
Meanwhile, President Trump grifts billions from Republicans’ own constituents and the congressional response is … crickets. Irony is dead.
Lawrence A. Snetman,
Miami
Fake concern
If the Trump administration is so concerned about “violent crime” in Washington, D.C. and other “blue cities,” then why doesn’t the president support stricter gun control or even the elimination of assault weapons?
Trump’s motivation may be something more disturbing.
Is he establishing a precedent for control over the police forces of Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other cities that support Black Lives Matter initiatives or sanctuary status for immigrants seeking asylum?
Peter M. Brooke,
Doral
Gables trees
In the Aug. 11 story by Michelle Marchante, “Development could kill a tree older than Coral Gables. Why residents are fighting to save it,” the green space, part of the Phoenetia Avenue block, is not a “park” but a walled garden, one of only three “biblical” gardens when it was created in 1951. As for Coral Gables founder George Merrick’s intention for the area, look to the historical city plan, landmarked in 2018 and unanimously approved by the city commission at the time.
The plan lists the Douglas Section (aka North Ponce District aka Phoenetia Avenue) as part of Merrick’s “original plan” and conceived as small scale multi-family, not high rises. Some multi-family residences were “designed to look like single-family homes from the street.” He then stipulated exact instructions to preserve the area’s trees: “The new development also will take steps to save from destruction full grown trees when new buildings are erected in new sections...as all of the full grown trees and old foliage will be kept intact…”
There is no arguing that the 200-year-old tree and surrounding old foliage trees cannot be moved or destroyed, as per ordinance. Additionally, the neighborhood is protected under the zoning code (North Ponce Neighborhood Conservation District Overlay), which was passed to preserve the tree canopy and enhance the residential garden apartment character.
The writings in the historic city plan ordinance and the city zoning code point to protecting the area, not the opposite. A “vote” to save it is not needed. What is needed is for the city to read its own writings on its own wall and preserve the neighborhood.
Karelia Martinez Carbonell,
preservation advocate,
Coral Gables
Closing time
As a nurse, I am guided by a code of ethics to respect the dignity and worth of every individual, recognizing their inherent value and rights. This applies to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or legal status.
As a fellow human, I disapprove of the inhumane conditions in the Everglades detention camp, crassly called Alligator Alcatraz. Immigrants — many here legally, many without criminal convictions — are reportedly crowded in cages, inside tents with faulty plumbing, 24-hour lights, sweltering heat and at times malfunctioning air conditioning. These are human rights violations.
The camp also presents public health threats. Swarms of mosquitoes can feed on the detainees and staff, increasing risks of mosquito-borne infections such as Zika, malaria, West Nile Virus, dengue and other diseases, which can spread rapidly within the camp and also into Florida communities. Light pollution and contamination by water runoff threaten the surrounding indigenous and residential populations and our fragile Everglades ecosystem.
Everyone, including the detainees, deserves human dignity and humane conditions. This detention camp should be closed.
Carol Lindsey,
Key Biscayne