[Vision2020] great letter to the editor

[Saundra Lund]

Thanks, Bill, for sharing this - the crazy notion that religion is "good"
only as long as it's a particular "flavor" has plagued this community for
far too long.

 

I suppose I'd be too Pollyannaesque to hope such pathetically narrow vision
might change with the New Year . . . 

 

 

Saundra Lund

Moscow, ID

 

This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for
complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the
philosophy is kindness.

~ Dalai Lama

 

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2009 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
author.*****

 

 

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Bill London
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 11:13 AM
To: vision2020 at secure.fsr.com
Subject: [Vision2020] great letter to the editor

 

This letter to the editor (below) was published in the Daily News on
December 25, 2009.  Perhaps you were busy that day and missed it.

The message is right on.

BL

 

-------------------------------    

Last night I attended the Lena Whitmore Concert and found it to be a
wonderful and uplifting experience - that was until the end when the
parents' complaints emerged while waiting to collect their kids. It seems
the "Good Christians" in our community considered themselves persecuted
because they had to listen to a couple of songs not dedicated to Christ's
birth.

There were 15 songs last night; eight were Christmas songs, 53 percent.
There was one song for Hanukkah, representing 7 percent of the program, and
one for Kwanza for another 7 percent. The remaining 33 percent of the songs
were secular and nonreligious. It seems that the Christians in our community
have defined persecution as getting your way most of the time. Apparently
they think they need to get their way all of the time.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind Christians they do not have
exclusive rights to the month of December. In addition to Christmas,
December is graced with Hanukkah, Kwanza, Bodhi Day, the Islamic New Year,
Ashura, Yule, the Pancha Ganapati Festival and Hijra. Yet the Hindis,
Buddhists, Pagans and Muslims do not claim persecution when none of their
songs grace the elementary school program, despite having children of these
faiths in the school.

So while Christians are singing "Peace on Earth, good will to men," they are
readily engaged in religious sniping, ensuring that good will is only
offered to Christian men. If Christians think they are being persecuted and
lament the trials of getting your way most of the time, you should try not
being Christian; perhaps then you would truly know what the face of
persecution looks like. For many, persecution is found on a Christian face.
Is it no wonder then, that so many are choosing not to be Christians?

Khaliela Wright, Moscow

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20091230/8b022209/attachment-0001.html