THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 33 lines
Recent reports make one wonder which is higher, the participants' age or I.Q.
First, the question of same-sex marriages: Polls are taken. Opinions are offered. Intolerance serves as a cloak despite the fact that these individuals love and nurture one another. Bottom line: it is no one's business except the people involved. Would those who protest these unions like it if their relationships were ridiculed because their culture or eye color was different?
Second: the Southern Baptists want to convert the Jewish people to ``save'' them. This is literally and figuratively a holier-than-thou attitude. Again it's no one's business (translation - freedom of choice) what religious credos one believes or doesn't believe.
Third: the religious right is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their black brethren against the horror of churches being burned (although Executive Director Ralph Reed did allude to the scriptures to support racist attitudes, where does he get this?) If he feels a true affection and kinship for all Christians, regardless of race, why doesn't he call on white congregations to invite their black neighbors to their churches in the interim? Isn't that what Christian charity is all about?
If all these people who maintain that their beliefs are the only true ones, want to, in their view, make a better more-decent world great, start by accepting all people, regardless of their differences and work together. The common denominator in religion is love, decency and respect for all.
TERI SLAVEN
Virginia Beach, June 18, 1996 by CNB