Babes Belong in Arms
I read the Oct. 18 article by Katie Allison Granju, "The Parenting Police," with interest. Parental attachment begins at the moment of birth. It is very important during those first few minutes, hours, and days that a mother and child not be separated. The bond created in those first few hours helps in large part to cement a relationship that lasts a lifetime.
One of the attributes of Lisa Ross Birth and Women's Center is that the mother is not separated from the child at birth. And for that matter, neither is the rest of the family. We support Metro Pulse and Granju for bringing out this critical issue.
Linda Cole, CNM
Director of Midwifery Services
Lisa Ross Birth and Women's Center
Knoxville
Up in Arms
I was personally offended by your reference to the "cheap-assed County Commission" in your Oct. 25 edition. Ironically, while you again appealed in this edition to Knoxville citizens to get out and vote in local elections, you continue to show no respect to those who are ultimately elected. This reflects the class of your publication...but what should readers expect from a paper that survives on revenue from advertisements for oriental massages, penis enlargements, body shampoos and hot dates.
Mike Arms
Commissioner, 5th District
Knoxville
Diversi-faith
As religious diversity increases in our area, I believe we must begin to learn how to live together in such a society. In furtherance of this need I have been working with several clergy and lay persons to establish a local Interfaith Alliance group.
Seeking to create a venue for dialogue among religious traditions, members and leaders of various Knoxville area faith communities met recently to begin plans for development of an East Tennessee chapter of The Interfaith Alliance. The Interfaith Alliance is a national organization, based in Washington, DC. It has more than 130,000 members nationwide, representing more than 50 faith traditions. This non-partisan group is dedicated to promoting the positive and healing role of religion in the life of the nation by focusing on compassion, civility and mutual respect in our increasingly diverse religious landscape. Locally and nationally, the Interfaith Alliance seeks to promote the role of religion in public life through encouraging civic participation and facilitating community activism, and to affirm the 1st Amendment and our great tradition of separation of church and state, which guarantees freedom and equal treatment for all belief traditions.
A preliminary organizational meeting was held at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, attended by representatives of several faith groups, all of whom expressed enthusiasm about the healing power of such an organization. Organizers agreed on five key objectives for the newly-formed group:
 To provide a model for what it means for Americans to live together in a religiously pluralistic society;
To discover the joy of making friends across the religious lines that have separated people for centuries, thereby eliminating suspicion and hostility between religions;
To form interfaith dialogue groups so that we might learn from each other for the deepening and expanding of one's own faith;
To join hearts, hands, and voices in working for a more just and peaceful community and world;
To support the goals of the national organization "to embrace our diversity and work together to make our society more inclusive, our politics more civil, and the nation more appreciative of the strength of our diversity."
The first public meeting of the ETIA will be held Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike. The Rev. Dan Rosemergy, president of the Nashville-based Middle Tennessee Interfaith Alliance, and a member of The Interfaith Alliance board of directors, will be the guest speaker. His group has sponsored events in the Nashville area, such as an interfaith vigil against hate crime.
The Interfaith Alliance web site is found at www.interfaithalliance.org. For more information about the East Tennessee Interfaith Alliance, contact Jerry Sillman at [email protected] or 856-6732; or The Rev. Chris Buice at [email protected], or 523-4176.
Jerry Sillman
Maryville
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