LETTERS: Lose the self-righteousness

I saw the letters from Hans Neumann, Ed Torrence, Ray Anderson, Paul Ciruso and Leah Madison. Of Mr. Neumann in particular, I offer this particular scripture found in Luke: Luke 23 verses 27—29. (Crucifixion scriptures) Great numbers of people followed, among them many women who mourned and lamented over him. Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and your children. For the days are surely coming when people will say, “Happy are the barren, the wombs that never bore a child, the breasts that never fed one.”’ Is Mr. Neumann so very certain that an opposition to abortion is in accordance with a mandate from God? Or is it only in accordance with the mandate of the church? After all, both the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the New give us scriptures in which God is prepared to condemn “unborn” life. Where does that put Mr. Neumann?

For all letter writers responding self-righteously to the decision of the Coeur d’Alene City Council to adopt an anti-discriminatory ordinance, will this scripture in Chapter Nine also from Luke help? Chapter 9 verses 23-26: To everybody he said, ‘Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine must renounce self; day after day he must take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but who ever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does anyone gain by winning the whole world at the cost of destroying himself? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.’

Quite frankly, I can’t find a better argument from a group of self-proclaimed “Christians” saying how ashamed they are of Christ’s words, than from the letters they penned in their very own hands and submitted for publication. Did it ever occur to any of these people that their God is the ultimate judge of everyone? God won’t discriminate between which sins he finds more abominable and which sins he may find less so. Quite unlike mankind. To their God, all sins are equally abominable. The Christ that can say, “The hatred you hold in your heart toward your neighbor is the same as murder,” should tell any of these people why they ought not write these letters. Their own personal animosity toward anyone “different” is what puts us all at risk for Hell. The hatred they hold protects and reverences no one, inclusive of children.

While I can applaud one concept that Ms. Madison brings to her letter, work ethic is what is most important in hiring people for employment; discrimination is what prevents employers from ever discovering if potential hires can do the job. Being white, but non-Christian, being a minority of any sort, male or female, disabled, being gay or transgender; is apparently more important to the discriminating employer than whether they are qualified to do the job. All the ordinance declares, that in housing and employment, there should no longer be such discrimination. What the City Council affirmed: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Since this second commandment came from Christ, apparently the letter writers are not up to the challenge of agreeing with this biblical mandate and living their lives according to it.

JOAN E. HARMAN

Coeur d’Alene