President Biden received a COVID-19 vaccination booster live on camera at the White House on Monday. With his third shot, he accomplished more for America than former President Trump did in four years of chaos.

“Please do the right thing,” he said, “please get the shots; it can save your life and the lives of those around you. It is easy, it is safe and it is free.”

Biden is not afraid to take a needle in front of the whole world. He’s not afraid to say everyone should be vaccinated.

Trump apparently is.

Who’s the real tough guy? (Hint: It’s not Trump.)

Winston-Salem

Conservative Christians like the writer of the Sept. 28 letter “God’s plan” always seem to have that one verse memorized — “Before you were formed in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5) — but they can’t remember Leviticus 19:34: “You shall treat the foreigner as if they were your own flesh and blood, and you shall love them as you love yourselves, for you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Why is that?

Cindy Moel

Winston-Salem

One letter writer quotes Bible verses that say that life begins with the first breath (“The Bible says …” Sept. 18) and another quotes Bible verses that say life begins in the womb (“God’s plan,” Sept. 28). How is an honest person to decide which to follow? How does a Christian do so? Does one group of verses supersede another? How does one decide? Is it just a matter of choosing the passages that already support one’s beliefs or is there some biblical method to decide which takes precedent? When Bible passages contradict one another, does that mean that one is wrong or that both are wrong?

And should we note the influence of politics on an interpreter’s biblical beliefs?

What were Jesus’ politics? With his generous, forgiving spirit, his denunciation of personal greed and praise for generosity, his insistence that we should care for others, can anyone really make a case that he would be a Republican?

Maybe we should make decisions about abortion with a little humility — or, actually, leave it to those who are most affected by it — understanding that it might be a personal choice rather than a matter of public policy or biblical dictate. Certainly any parent who thinks “I’m in a better position to decide whether my child should wear a mask than the school’s principal” should be able to extrapolate that principle.

Renny Parker

Winston-Salem

I realize that this isn’t exactly local news, which is what you do best, but I feel like it’s important for you to report that Trump supporters in Arizona just spent $5.7 million in taxpayer dollars to prove once more that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. This needs to be hammered in — especially when we’ve got local politicos like Ken Raymond, president of the Forsyth County Republican Party, insisting, over and over again, that Democrats are cheating to win elections.

This is exactly the kind of claim that conservative people — Democrats, back then — used to overthrow the government in Wilmington in 1898. It doesn’t have to be proved, it just has to be repeated over and over again until it becomes accepted. “Everybody knows” essentially means “it’s not true, but we’re going to pretend it is.”

Columnist Michael Gerson is right to warn us (“Future political violence feels inevitable,” Sept. 29) that Trump followers are likely preparing to get violent the next time they lose an election, and they’ll do so while claiming, “Everybody knows the other side cheated.” This is the result of not holding former President Trump responsible for trying to overthrow the 2020 election.

Every time Raymond or anyone else makes such a ridiculous claim, there should be a chorus of both Democrats and Republicans shouting, “Prove it or shut up!”

Lorraine Kelly

Winston-Salem