A First Among First Ladies

I don't get what all the hoopla is about. Michelle Obama is an intelligent, attractive woman who happens to be a mother and the wife of the President. What people of other persuasions do not understand is that she DOES stand for something for us African-American women. For the first time, there is a SISTA who looks like a SISTA in the White House, and someone with an agenda other than following her husband around and waving. When we older women see her, we see what our daughters and our granddaughters can aspire to. We have so many times been relegated to the single mom, welfare recipient, GED-educated living in the ghetto, angry Black woman. Michelle Obama lets everyone whose only frame of reference is the media know that We are beautiful....We are intelligent....We can "fry the bacon AND bring it home".

I was quite disappointed to read your cover story "The Meaning of Michelle". A cover story should have more substance and intelligent commentary than what was written. I found it very stereotypical that Allison Samuel's piece was based upon a Sunday morning gab session with other girlfriends. This is a fine premise, but the entire article goes to talk about how Mrs. Obama dresses, what kind of a mother she is, how quickly she could be well behaved as a wife. I think feminists would have cringed to read that angle on the future first lady. I hope that a woman can be characterized more than by the way she dresses or the ability for the be a good homemaker. The author did not explain that Michelle was actually Barack's mentor when he started working in a Law Firm. She did not go into her political stance, intellectual ability, and personal values and how they might affect the nation. Would we talk about Senator Hillary Clinton in such a simplistic way? I hope Michelle will be given her dues soon, in more than just the traditional gender roles we superficially view her in.

Thank you Ms Miller for having the guts to speak out on what the bible really says. I am a person of fiath. These so called Christians are not Christians at all. They fail to abide by the basics of Jesus's teaching is love your neighbor as yourself and thou shalt not judge others. Would Jesus discriminate against anyone? I am tired of people picking and choosing segments of the bible. Read through Leviticus would we abide by most of what is said there. Really the bible was written by a series of men and has been interepted and misinterpreted thoughout the decades. BRAVO Ms Miller its about time someone in the mainstream set the record striaght or gay. .

Michael Sabatino
Yonkers, NY

Lisa Milller's recent article on the Biblical views of marriage is one of the most ridiculous pieces of 'research' I've seen in a while.

I appreciate that you'd like to address the religious roots to the opposition to gay marriage, but this article isn't it.

Ms. Miller obviously has taken a critic's view of the Bible, and shows a marked lack of both understanding and research into her topic.

Briefly... marriage is defined in the early chapters of Genesis. Healthy sex is promoted in Song of Solomon. Jesus
endorsed marriage by His blessing of it during the celebration where He created the wine from water. Homosexuality is
condemned throughout both old and new testaments - Romans ch 1 being especially clear and thorough on the topic. And Paul had far more to say about husbands & wives in his other letters - the Cor passage Miller notes was addressing rampant sexual problems in that church, and was not a random thought about marriage in general.

Please - have your writers do their research, or stick to op-ed pieces.

Regarding the article on gay marriage...I think the author shows a great lack of knowledge of the Bible. I'm a soccer mom... definitely no scholar. However, it's clear to me she doesn't take into account how God reveals Himself throughout the entire Bible. Rather she picks and chooses small phrases here and there to try to make her point. Therein lies a great amount of danger. What would she have to say about "wives be submissive to your husbands" (1Peter3:1)? That bit of scripture taken out of context can also create a very wrong view of the husband/wife relationship. I suggest she do at least one year of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) and then come back and give us her view.

The author of the article on gay marriage was unfortunately rather underinformed. Or perhaps she merely chose to ignore 1 Timothy 1:9-10? "We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; ... for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality,...???and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine". That's a pretty clear, clear enough for me, at least. But if that isn't enough (Maybe it's a "throwaway line"? Using that phrase in the context of Scripture is fairly indicative of an underinformed author), here's the text of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ... will inherit the kingdom of God."

The author seems content to condemn the laws of the Bible as cultural issues. While it is a valid approach in some cases (Christians eat pork, for instance), it is most certainly not a valid approach in this case. Even if, and this is a big IF, you choose to throw out Leviticus as some people are content to do, there is nothing valid that would allow you to simply forget Corinthians and 1 Timothy. (It's mentioned elsewhere, but those are the two verses where it seems to hold true regardless of translation)

In closing, I would ask a reader to consider the following verse, also from Corinthians: " "Everything is permissible for me"???but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"???but I will not be mastered by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"???but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." In other words, while God forgives all sins, including sexual immorality in all of its myriad forms, that is no excuse for one to ignore biblical mandates.

Thank you.

This article was well written and thought provoking, but I found myself increasingly uncomfortable with the author as one scripture after another was simply dismissed as something written for a particular time and place in history and thus no longer important for our life in the 21st Century. I would agree with the author???s observance that there are several ???laws??? within the Leviticus section sighted that are not applicable to today???s culture nor even applicable to the time of Christ and yet, to include the dictates against homosexuality was a misuse of that biblical approach. As a Bible teacher for over 40 years I have always asked my students to place a certain ???law??? or ???directive??? within the context of the entire Bible. ???Does it hang true for all of scripture ??? from Genesis to Revelation.??? If the answer was no then the matter in question could be seen as a cultural issue caught within the context of history of the time. But, and this is a rather big BUT, if the matter in discussion ???hangs??? true for all of scripture then we should take it very seriously and follow its directions. Such a case can be made for not approving the marriage or sanctioning of gay marriage. Newsweek is usually fair and well balanced. It has been my experienced that when the magazine addresses a controversial subject both sides are normally given press time. Unfortunately, on this subject, you did not follow your long-standing practice and for that I am sorry.

Dear Newsweek,
I want to thank you for your cover story on gay marriage and for your great courage in making so clear and unequivocal a stand in favor of gay marriage. As you face the inevitable angry and hostile backlash from the religious right, remember that there are a lot of us out there, especially couples like myself and my partner, who are very grateful for your stand. We remember you in our thoughts, and in our prayers.