With the number of subscribers we now have, address-correction fees are becoming a major operational expense. From the last mailing, we have received 57 notifications for which we must pay $0.50 each, and they are coming back daily. For this reason, we have dropped our policy of sending replacement copies by first-class mail to those who move without notifying us. To avoid interruption in your subscription service, please send us notification if you move.
The front-page editorial in the Special 5th Edition of 1995 and editorial comments on letters in the "Mailbag" column of this and previous issues have pointed out the increased demands on the editor's time that have come with the growth of The Skeptical Review. Ads that ran in Bible Review last summer brought in several hundred new subscribers, and messages about our work that various readers have posted on the internet have brought in other subscriptions as well as requests for information. Many readers, including even a few inerrantists, are sending articles for publishing consideration, and we have already received more of these than we can possibly publish. Reading them to look for the ones appropriate for publication puts another demand on the editor's time.
Our attempts to explain this problem have been graciously received by most readers. This is indicated by the increased number of letter writers who tell us that they just want to share their thoughts or opinions with us but don't expect personal replies. Needless to say, we appreciate that understanding.
There are, however, some inerrantist subscribers who see their unanswered letters as an indication that they have "stumped" us with arguments that cannot be answered. A typical letter from these writers will be 5 or 6 or even more single-spaced, type-written pages in which they string together assertion after assertion (just as fundamentalist debaters do in public forums), which would require several hours to write a point-by-point to response to. There just aren't enough hours in the day to answer them all. When they go unanswered, the writers send additional letters in which they gloat over their victories. This has been especially true of Dennis Conley, whose accusations were addressed in the "Mailbag" column of this issue, and a group of creationists/ fundamentalists in Pekin, Illinois. No amount of explanation seems to satisfy them.
To those with this attitude, we offer what we believe is a reasonable proposal. If they will arrange some kind of public forum in their communities where others will have the opportunity to hear both sides of the inerrancy issue discussed, the editor of TSR will somehow arrange his schedule to participate in the forum. This would be a far more practical use of time than spending hours writing letters that will be read by only one or two people, whose position on biblical inerrancy has already been shown to be hopelessly inflexible.
If this offer isn't satisfactory, perhaps our inerrantist subscribers who think that their letters have left us hopelessly defeated would like to consider the opportunity explained in the following notice.
The editor of TSR owns a list on the internet on which issues concerning Bible inerrancy are discussed. (This, by the way, is another activity that requires the editor's personal attention each day.) The present address of this list is IIerrancy.com, but this site may be moved to another address by the time this issue is mailed. To obtain up-to-date information on how to subscribe to this list, send inquiries to our e-mail address here. For those who are newcomers to the internet, "subscription" may be a misleading word. A subscription merely puts you on the list so that you can receive copies of all postings and post your own messages, but it does not entail cost beyond the expense of being on line long enough to send and receive messages. This cost is very nominal, but TSR receives nothing from subscribers to the list.
Your postings on this list, for or against inerrancy, will
receive priority from the editor over regular letters, because
answering e-mail is far
simpler than
responding to "snail mail." At the same time, everyone on the list
will be able
to follow all exchanges between subscribers. By subscribing, any of
our
inerrantist readers who think that we are dodging their questions and
arguments
will have the opportunity to test that opinion before an on-line
audience.
