Reply #19: My mean and nasty LTE that got published today in my local paper....

[Helga Scow Stern]

Dear Editor,

First of all, thank you for printing the many differing views of people who live in XXXXXXX. Our various perspectives and the ability to speak them freely are what make democracy great.

Having said that, I wish to address Ms. XXXXXXX, for her letter of December 3, 2004.

Ms. XXXXXX, you state:

"I believe Mr. XXXXX is mistaken in his application of ... (the question What Would Jesus Do?) into the world of nations. Clearly Christ taught that as individuals we are to be kind and loving. But in the verses Mr. XXXXX cited, Christ is talking to individuals not nations."

You go on to say:

"There are many instances in the Bible when God does talk to nations. Often war was a way of God judging nations for their 'inequities' and sometimes God used one nation to stand up for righteousness against another nation whose corruption had gone unchecked."

My question to you, Ms. XXXXX, is how on earth or in heaven do you know that God is the one directing this slaughter in Iraq, which is far more disruptive to the people there than Hussein? Is it because this is what your "president" says?

What makes you so certain that the voices your "president" says he hears come from God and not from some far darker force, like, say, Satan? And why is it that when an ordinary citizen hears voices telling him to kill people, he is locked up for the good of the public safety, but when Bush hears voices telling him to kill, so-called Christians rejoice and act as if he was chosen by God to be president?

This is not my Christianity, and this is not my president. But it IS my country, and my democracy. Since you cite instances of brutality by one leader, Saddam Hussein, how can you ignore those committed by George W. Bush and his administration? He lied to get us into Iraq. He and his cabal are guilty of international war crimes, and, since evidence of wide-scale election fraud is cropping up in states all across the land, he is also most likely guilty of another severe felony against the American people. He stole his way into office once, and now he is trying to do it again. I am sorry to use such strong words against a man you, Ms. XXXXX, and others so obviously admire (far fewer than were reported in the official election tallies, it turns out), but it is high time you all wake up. If you want to apply Christian theology to politics, I think the story of the Antichrist might be more fitting.

And don't tell me I am filled with hate. I am filled with rage, as any decent, thinking, caring human being should be. And I am sorry, Ms. XXXXX, sending gift-wrapped shoe boxes around the world filled with gifts and school supplies for poor children does not wash the blood off your supposedly Christian hands for supporting this monster who sits in the White House. Get real. Jesus would be ashamed of this hypocrisy.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX