Letters

Sinful Pleasures

In the August article, "God Inc.," (Senior Pastor) Paul Endrei says, "It's a sin to bore people in church." But perhaps the greater sin is to indulge their desire always to be entertained.

I find Endrei's secular approach to religion shallow and troubling. It's religion "lite" — a doctrine of self-improvement, feeling good, financial success, marriage and career counseling and, of course, entertainment, with a little religion sprinkled in between.

John Stuart Mill, the 19th-century utilitarian philosopher, believed it made a difference whether someone read poetry or drank gin; that there are qualitative differences between the higher pleasures of intellect, culture and religion, and the lower pleasures of the senses.

Endrei and others like him may be successful marketers and may deserve mention in a business publication, but they are shortchanging their customers by serving up a taste of gin that promotes neither religious reflection nor devout worship.

Kenneth Haseley
Westlake

 

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Lute Harmon's September column, "Miller Challenge Update: No Margin, No Mission," misses two important issues.
This pot of gold (Northeast Ohio) is filled with a lot of little pieces of gold that come out of people's firmly entrenched budgets and/or pockets. Someone whose empire would shrink if these little pieces were taken away often talks nicely in public, but works hard in the background to scuttle the effort.

Additionally, one of the more important concerns people have about regionalizing efforts is that they think giving up control is the same as not getting the required level of service or support from a regionalized function. [These people] are often not able to articulate how they measure quality in a service or operation sufficiently to trade control for a good set of metrics.  
I have personal experience in identifying and addressing these concerns, and it's a tough job. Good luck.

Douglas Poad
Mount Union College
Alliance