While Philip Kurian's comments on religion voiced optimism and acceptance, ignorant response letters vehemently expressed fundamentalism and superiority.
Stephen Paul reaches his own religious "truths" through a literal interpretation of the Bible. Okay. Such claims would subsequently lead billions of non-Christians who do not partake in "baptism(s) into Jesus Christ" to an eternity in hell, as they would not receive "eternal salvation." Such literalism is widespread among Christian fundamentalists. An in-depth look into the Bible may lead one to stray away from such an interpretation.
In addition to "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" as stated in John 14:6, it is also written that Christian wives should "be the subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the Church" (Ephesians 5:22-24).
Those who choose to make an extra buck and work on the Sabbath, "shall be put to death," explained in Exodus 35:2. Putting "on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material" is a direct violation of Holy Scripture, Leviticus 19:19. Or how about selling one's daughter into slavery, permissible in Exodus 21:7? A disallowance of trimming one's hair below the temples, Leviticus 19:27?
An unchanging truth? I don't think so. "For crying out loud, " rather than an intolerant, judgmental, prejudiced existence, let's aim for peaceful, fulfilling, fruitful lives, respecting each and every individual as people from different upbringings, beliefs, intelligences, experiences, families and religions.
Instead of labeling individuals such as Kurian as one condemned to "perish," let's focus on one of Jesus's primary messages: compassion.
Dan Riley
Trinity '06
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