
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993                   TAG: 9304260352
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IS CELEBRATED

HOW GOOD it is to live in a community where religious diversity is a cause for celebration rather than conflict! The popularity of the "Places of Faith" exhibit at the Roanoke Valley History Museum is evidence of that celebration. I am sure that your April 6 coverage of the event has helped to foster the celebratory spirit. This spirit is surely a sign of the cultural health of our valley.

But let us not be too complacent or self-congratulatory. I watch with dismay and often horror at the destruction of life and property that grows out of racial, cultural and religious intolerance in other parts of this country and abroad. The history of humanity is filled with inter- and intra-religious brutality. There is no reason for us to feel that we are immune to this problem.

We have finally come to understand that biodiversity is essential to ecological health. But humanity has yet to learn that religious, racial and cultural diversity is likewise essential to our social and economic health. A monolithic society is the perfect medium for the ideological inbreeding that leads to arrogance, separation from others, fear and finally hatred. Tolerance of diversity is not enough. We must feel the need for diversity. I hope the future of our valley holds many more celebrations. E. JACQUES MILLER ROANOKE

by CNB