Views change

Regarding “Some evangelicals rethink stance on Bible, gays” (Page A1, Tuesday), were even the most devout of Christian thinkers never obliged to change their views of life and spirituality, we would still be burning women at the stake on charges of witchcraft and believing in a flat earth.

The past three generations have witnessed a tremendous upsurge in research on sexuality with mass media spreading the fruits of that research very rapidly. New information on sexuality has changed peoples’ perception of life, their appreciation of self, their beliefs and their aspirations. We realize today as never before, that sexuality is not just reproductive in character, but a multifaceted relationship between people. The result has been the rise of sexual equality and the realization that homosexuality is just another aspect of normal sexuality. Our understanding of ourselves is no longer bound by patriarchal tradition. The evangelical Christians must come to understand this conscientiously and learn to operate amid the contingencies of this new perception of sexuality. Otherwise, they will simply be “out of touch” and cease to be a respectable force in society.

John L. Indo, Houston implementation of a system not established by law.

Even if it is argued that the legislation was meant to say something else, the court is still restricted to what the law actually says. In this case, the law says what was intended: Subsidies are to be paid to people who enroll through state exchanges. The federal exchange is not a state exchange.

At the time of passage, the proponents specifically said the bill was structured that way to encourage states to set up exchanges. It is not a typo. It is not a mistake in the sense that they meant to say something else. It may be a mistake because states did not take the bait, and things did not work out as they intended, but it said what they intended.

Robert W. Ellis, Houston