The Social Art

To the Editors:

I was delighted to find so many pages devoted to the "new wave" architecture [Jan. 81. Imaginative, intelligent, graceful, it is an architecture with the courage to break from recent tradition while rediscovering lessons from the past.

Jeffrey Horowitz Cambridge, Mass.

U.S. architects have not by a long shot said "Goodbye to glass boxes and all that," nor have their European colleagues. The clumsy-concrete school of architecture has simply expanded to include other materials. Any attempt to decorate it with art nouveau or similar elements, no matter how costly, cannot hide the deadly ugliness; even tombstones seem more lively. Thus Philip Johnson, as depicted on the cover of TIME, looks rather like an undertaker displaying just another type of luxury urn.

Bernard Wagner Hamburg

Unlike their counterparts today, the Modernists--Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Wright and Gropius--cared about meeting the real needs of mankind. If they are guilty of utopianism, at least they dreamed of relieving and uplifting the urban masses that lived in congested, unhealthy and degrading conditions. Modernism may have failed to remake the world, but it dared greatly.

Harry J. Kelly Boston

Hooray for the demise of glass-boxed Mondrians, and hello to Robert Venturi's "linguistic" variety.

Mary Ellen Emig Evansville, Ind.

Bravo for the splendid story "U.S. Architects." But how about the unknown architects of America, who must make their way through energy-conservation restrictions, environmental impact regulations, lack of materials, increasing cost of living and low budgets?

Jean-Paul Gauberti Denver

The days of commitment to the sealed building with its complete surrender to energy-dependent systems are dead and gone. The energy crisis is not a temporary piece of bad luck. Radical changes must be made in today's building industry, and it is the responsibility of U.S. architects to lead the way.

Robert D. Vander Kooi Hudsonville, Mich.

Opposition vs. Persecution

Your Essay "Homosexuality: Tolerance vs. Approval" [Jan. 8] is full of the nastiest kind of bigotry--that which is expressed with a show of sweet reason and charity. "Oppose," but don't "persecute." It matters little to the stunned brain in a fractured skull whether the deed was done in opposition or persecution. Give me straightforward (pun intended), honest, hotheaded persecution always in preference to the cold slime of tolerance and fairness such as yours.

William T. Wood New York City

As a heterosexual struggling to remain rational while attempting to understand homosexuality, I commend John Leo's Essay. Certainly homosexuals deserve fair treatment, but as a fellow human being I reserve the right to tolerate any expression, belief, lifestyle, etc., without being required to endorse it.

Tom Throneberry Indianapolis

If the straight majority afforded due tolerance to the gay minority, then the law could fairly keep its jurisdiction out of the sexual domain. But to say, as Mr. Leo does, that the law should be "blind" to the homosexual rights problem is to advocate that justice be blind to injustice.

Jill Magee New York City

Rape and Marriage

Although the jury in the Rideout trial [Jan. 8] was not convinced of the defendant's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt," the reform in the rape law itself is long overdue. Marriage vows do not entail the right to sexually assault one's partner. Criminal codes that support such a notion clearly suggest the idea of "mate as chattel" rather than the American ideal of equal protection under the law.

Jenni Pockel Portland, Ore.

The situation at Salem, Ore., is an example of what the so-called women's libbers have brought about with ERA and is an opportunity for any devious female to bring the courts and lawyers into the sanctity of the home and the bedroom. The piece of legislation that permits the Rideout case is another step toward bringing complete chaos to our country.

John R. Brady Corte Madera, Calif.

The Waking Giant

The New Long March of China [Jan. 1] may indeed conquer the mountains, seas, plains and oilfields of the motherland, but by the 21st century China will be indistinguishable from the U.S. or the Soviet Union. It too will be afflicted with the inescapable ills of all technological societies: dirty air and water, noise, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, traffic accidents, spiritual alienation and the death of God. More's the pity since for a while it seemed as though the China of Mao might teach us to become better human beings instead of devoting our skills and energies to piling up junk.

Herbert Meredith Orrell Albuquerque

Church of Inequality

It really is not surprising that the most theologically liberal of the South African Dutch Reformed churches should take the hardest line on race [Jan. 1]. Liberal churches have always allowed secular society rather than Scripture to set their agenda and vision. Thus liberal denominations in South Africa seek to conform to their culture while the more Bible-based groups do not. The Bible says that all men are created in God's image and that all are sinners in need of regeneration. Therefore no race or class is better than any other, and equality should reign.

J. Alan Jackson Champaign, Ill.

How Man Began

After reading Joann Dorsch's letter concerning Adrienne Zihlman's study of chimps and evolution [Jan. 1], I began to wonder when people will learn that most evolutionists actually believe that God did create man, and they are only trying to find out how he did it.

Michael Griffin Aberdeen, S. Dak.

The letter from Joann R. Dorsch asks: "Will evolutionists ever give up and simply admit that God created us?" The answer is no. As long as there is so much evidence in favor of evolution and so little in favor of the Book of Genesis, we will search for man's origin.

Dan Molitor Yakima, Wash.

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