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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993                   TAG: 9305250630
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ANY WONDER THERE'S GENOCIDE?

RECENT reports of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia remind me of a passage I read as a child in Sunday school:

"However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them - the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites - as the Lord your God has commanded you" (Deuteronomy 20:16-17).

It is unfortunate that many religions such as Christianity find nothing morally reprehensible in genocide. Indeed, commandments to carry it out are found in the sacred works of many of the world's great religions, including the Bible - a book many in this country consider the inerrant word of God. BRADLEY McKINLEY BLACKSBURG

by CNB