News-Record.com

Wow. That letter was packed with all sorts of stuff. It seems to me that you could reasonably boil it down to a self-centered attitude. It's as if she was saying, "Mine is the only real religion, so that's the only thing you should have in your religion section."

I particularly liked this sentence: "I find, most of the time, I am scratching my head!"

Heck, I think that you should be proud of yourself if you've inspired someone like that to feel confused when reading something about religion. That sort of challenge is just the sort of thing a person like that needs to have. At LEAST once a week. {;-)

Cheers!

[[This is a Christian country, fast being overtaken by people with beliefs and fads which had no place in founding this country other than it was created essentially from religious percution. I wish all these invaders would "go home"!]]

Actually, it was predominantly Unitarians, more than Trinitarian Christians, who did the heavy lifting of setting up our government. So I wonder if your Trinitarian correspondent is ready to get on a boat to go home, as it were.

Wonder if the writer of the letter has checked the definition of "religion" in the dictionary? Here is a link that may help the writer if that one so chooses to check it out; http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=religion.

I agree with Eric, at least the writer of the letter is "scratching my head."

Shalom

Ms. McLaughlin

I think you do a fine job. There may be a slightly unconscious bias, if any, towards montheism in your articles (occasionally perhaps even slightly weighted towards Christianity), but overall, I am just happy to see these issues addressed with respect and compassion. In addition, as even those of us who have ALWAYS called the US our home evolve in our beliefs, sometimes taking on Eastern faiths or turning to non-theistic understanding, I feel the orthodox and evangelical communities of faith should be willing to have a respectful dialogue; this means not blinding oneself and demanding (or wishing vainly) we would "go home".

Where does that put someone like my wife? Should she go home to the foothills of the Blue Ridge here in NC? maybe because I am a dreaded Yankee, the letter writer means to direct me north again. And what about the Native Americans? Andrew Jackson already sent great floods of them "home" alright...to the Great Spirit during the Trail of Tears.

Really, that writer and others of that ilk should feel ashamed of their parochial, jigoistic prejudice.

Someone should remind the writer, however honest she is, that this is a NEWSPAPER for a community and not a forum for a single set of beliefs. Religion is a touchy topic and your column is "religion" with a small "r" and not a particular religion. She needs to go on an interfaith mission and see the larger picture.

You're doing beyond fine, Nancy. You should be proud of yourself and your work.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

This country was founded by people who were fleeing persecution just like the writer of the letter. It was not founded by "Christians". Jefferson was a Unitarian. Washington and Franklin were both deists, Just to name some of the more important founders. Separation of Church and State was stated because frankly, the founders were just tired of people like the author of the letter above.

Thank You

Albert Paulus
Pagan Diest

Oh, for those who do not know, a deist believes that there is a God, just that All Religions have not found him, her, them or it yet.

Nancy, I think your column does a wonderful job of representing the community (the entire community). I also think that Liz Grimes wrote a poignant article about her beleifs. Why would anyone have a problem with someone who wants to live her life gently upon this Earth. "Imagine" if we could all do the same. Rather than finding fault or "scratching my head" why not try to at least gain some understanding if not acceptance of other faiths and beleifs. If we could do this, maybe hidious events like "9-11" and Holy Wars (what an oxymoron) could be a thing of the past. Such narrow thinking of "my way (religion) is the only way" is what leads people to fly planes into towers. I commend both you and Liz Grimes and hope you will keep up the good work.

Dear Ms.Mclaughlin,

...maybe the writer needs to "be" the change or improvement s/he so passionately invokes...

I'm always amazed and saddened when (seemingly) literate, well-spoken folks are so content to remain so narrow in their outlook and so simple in their thought processing.

Anyway--cheers to you--keep up the good work in'06.

In different times, the fearful, whiney, insecure one-way-religious-cyst letter writer would have joined the Romans in gleefully killing the rebellious Jew known as Jesus, who incidentally is a false messiah, if you use the Torah as the foundation for qualifications of such a leader who has yet to come.

Sorry for the incontrovertible facts and any historic discomfort that is minor compared to the slaughter of the Jews and other non-Christians at the hands of the self-declared self-righteous during the past couple millenia.

If unstopped the United States will move toward a draconian Christian Taliban-style theocracy (theocrazy!).

All of us are messiahs, as God's children to act to rejoice in our differences and savor the similiarities, in living in peace.

The writer and her article were easy prey for the fairly adept humanist/atheist attack bloggers, because the article at issue was rather poorly written, both from a literary and apologetic standpoint. And her wish that the “invaders would just go home” was just ill-advised fodder for the critic-vultures. She was basically expressing the long term frustration of an average church-going Christian in the community regarding the rainbow approach to religion that the N&R has been promoting for some time; even though she did graciously concede that everyone has a right to their own belief system. Her point was well taken, I thought, that atheism and agnosticism do not constitute what an overwhelming majority of the local citizenry would regard as “faith.”

It is both understandable and proper that any section on religion should focus primarily on the faith of the vast majority of the local readership. Again she made a good point. Beyond that, fringe beliefs can be quite offensive to Christian (biblical, orthodox ones), in that their beliefs are often contrary to anything resembling the scriptural God and the doctrines of grace that constitute true Christianity. But since the person(s) in charge of the section have as their agenda to fly in the face of this consensus, we have just come to accept the fact that the N&R is an organ of the socialist/humanist rainbow left, who believe that promoting this pagan rubbish will somehow improve American life. Keep dreaming!

Personally, as a long-standing student of religions, I find the religion articles rather interesting, and am certainly not looking to be edified by them, simply informed. It IS a bit disturbing when the over-arching viewpoint of the section is that all religions (no matter how un, goofy and fringe) are equally valid and profitable. This view is certainly not historical, nor widely held; but merely a self-conscious agenda of the paper to dislodge Christianity from its place of leadership and influence in our society – and replace it with “whatever.” The writer of the article may have been pedestrian in her philosophical abilities, but she was quite astute and street smart in seeing through this agenda. Everyone I know with an IQ over 60 sees it.

And, by the way, quidnunc’s comments were as vitriolic as any I have seen around the old blog in some time. Jesus was most certainly the Messiah – of both Torah and Prophets, and the consequences of dishonoring and rejecting Him (which you are indeed free to do) are worth serious consideration. The historical errors and sins of pseudo-Christians, who in no sense represent either the true Church or the teachings of Messiah, cannot be used to judge the validity of Christian truth. And, his fear that a “draconian Taliban-style theocracy” of overly zealous Christians might take over the U.S. is nothing but a fear tactic and a wanton display of ignorant ad hominem diatribe. We should rather fear that the Marxist-humanists, whose progenitors created the Gulags and murdered millions of peasants, do not gain hegemony. And it was a dedicated army of Christians, who sang “Onward Christian Soldiers” on the ship where Churchill and Roosevelt were meeting in the Atlantic that crushed the Nazi horde and released the Jews - and have built more than their share of hospitals, orphanages, ministries to the poor, freed slaves, etc. History simply proves how resistant the sin nature is to fully understanding and living out the consummate truths of Yeshua the Messiah- blessed be His holy Name.