Not Much Faith in Schuller’s Story

* I agree with those who felt the Rev. Robert H. Schuller made a very false-sounding apology. Contrite? I don’t believe it.

BILL CHASE

Mission Viejo

* The Rev. Robert H. Schuller can explain to the news reporters, can explain from the pulpit, can explain to Larry King what a good guy he is and how misunderstood. [He can claim to be] a victim of union manipulation, of racial bigotry or of religious prejudice.

The fact of the matter is he behaved badly and can’t bring himself to just admit it. What is a “man of the cloth” doing in a first-class cabin anyway? All those donations solicited by him help pay for his travels! He has a good thing going.

LORAINE WALSH

San Juan Capistrano

* Although those who follow the call to preach to others are made of the same stuff as the rest of us, they are often held to a higher standard of behavior. That is why I think the Rev. Robert H. Schuller missed a wonderful opportunity to practice the Gospel that he preaches.

I found his calling his encounter with the airline attendant “one of the wonderful days of my whole life” less than credible. Embarrassing perhaps; unfortunate probably; regrettable to be sure; but “wonderful” only to the extent that it might cause one to “wonder” how he got into that mess in the first place.

But in terms of a missed opportunity, Schuller had the chance to acknowledge his own human sinfulness, his personal need of redemption and his sadness in realizing that, at that moment, he failed to do as Christ would have done.

After admittedly abusing and assaulting an employee of the air carrier he tells us that he is willing to “turn the other cheek.”

In a society where personal responsibility is often avoided and blame transferred to others, Schuller had an opportunity to step up and say: “I was wrong. I behaved poorly. I was threatening and intimidating to an attendant trying to do his job. It is not the way my master, Jesus, would have behaved. I apologize to the attendant (whether there was provocation or not is beside the point). I regret the poor example I have given and I will certainly try not to let that kind of thing happen in the future.”

That would have been the kind of message we could all take home and try to practice in our own lives.

F. PHILIP JOHNSTON

Fountain Valley