Please read my LTTE

[Abelman]

I am a Democrat. I am a liberal. I am a Christian.

I am a Democrat, as was John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt..
I am a liberal, as was Martin Luther King, Jr, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Jefferson.
I am a Christian, as most of our Presidents have been and some have claimed to be.

Read it again: Liberal Christian Democrat.

I will not allow government and religion to mix. I will not stand idly by while people are punished for committing a “sin” that victimizes no one. I am not going to sit down and be happy and listen to what the Religious Right tells me to think. I will not tolerate a religion based on persecution and hatred and judgement by man. I will not tolerate a government which caters to religion. We have man-made laws to protect victims. If a man cannot visit another man in the hospital, who is the victim?

I don’t say I am pro-life and support a war that kills over a thousand brave American troops and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians. I don’t waste my time wondering if two men holding hands is a sin when over two million children went to bed starving to death last night. I am not going to worry about your children meeting and learning about other faiths because I am not insecure about their faith in mine.

I am confident enough in my personal faith to learn about others. I am confident enough in who I am to learn about other people’s culture and beliefs. I am not scared they will infect me. I am hopeful they can show me new ways to celebrate the Almighty.

I am done having the other side tell me what I believe, tell me where I will spend my afterlife, and contradicting the very core of our religion by supporting the death of innocents.

This is my country. Christianity is my religion. Democracy is my government. I am reclaiming them as mine. You are done calling yourself Christian while supporting murder. You are done calling it Democracy when you don’t listen to every voice. You are done promoting faith-based initiatives when you yourself have no faith.

You are done rewriting the Constitution with your tattered bible. The bible you have removed the words “love,” “forgiveness,” and “judge not” from. They will remain separate.

Read it one more time. Learn it well.
Liberal. Democrat. Christian.
I am the future.
---------------------------------------------
Is it good? What else to add?

[TaleWgnDg]

1. Great sentiments. Go for it.

. . . . . . . . . .



.

[phylny]

2. I think it's terrific.

My only suggestion is that one of your last sentences reads awkwardly:

The bible you have removed the words "love," "forgiveness," and "judge not" from.

I apologize that I can't think clearly right now, so I have no suggestions for alternatives.

It's a powerful letter.

[Abelman]

4. How about

"You are done only using the bible when it supports your crimes."

[RapidCreek]

3. It's beautiful

To bad you seem to be a minority in the world of Christianity.

I think your last sentence is fine btw.

RC

[murielm99]

5. I don't think we are in the minority.

The outrageous gets the attention.

And the talibornagain are nothing but outrageous.

Most mainstream Christians feel exactly like the writer of this LTTE.

[chookie]

8. The Republicans use religion as a wedge issue

It is authoritarianism, not "freedom", which is on the march.

The extremists have gotten their momentum by appealing to religious people. When canvassing, I met people who felt terrible about what Bush was doing, but felt they had to support him because he was "Christian", and especially on the abortion issue. Mr Rove's strategy succeeded!

I think the battle has been lost by secular elitists like myself, or at least, we have been temporarily outmaneuvered. In a society that currently mocks scholarship, and knowledge, and compromise, and tolerance, and progress, and science -- we have been marginalized. And that's just the beginning. Sadly, they're too stupid to see the consequences of rejecting those of us who value facts and reality. A brain drain to other countries is just the start. Europe and China are going to begin to wildly surpass us in critically needed new technologies and innovations and medical research. And losing disastrous and horrifically expensive wars that should never have gotten started in the first place -- that is going to be another consequence.

I think, at this point, it is really up to sane and authentically Christians to wake up their otherwise good Christian neighbors as to how their being fooled by the Bush administration is going to unleash the darkest forces our nation has ever seen. We cannot avoid disaster without having them on our side against Bush and the Armageddonists.

[mopaul]

6. excellent

i'm proud of you, and you are very succinct. excellent piece

[chookie]

7. pretty darned good

When I read stuff like that, the sentiments of truly moral people, i think we may get through this.

I don't think it needs anything -- it is a wonderful clarion call of true morality.

Funny how these wacko-Americans are as selective about the Bible as Bush and Cheney were when it came to finding "evidence" to invade Iraq. They love to say they read the Bible -- too bad they get stuck on their personal favorite parts -- the ones about judgement and punishment and smiting enemies -- and miss the parts about humility and humane justice. They act and believe with utter certainty, but never a moment of humility and self-reflection, that perhaps they are living not as God wants them to live, but using God's word selectively to justify the worldly and arrogant way that they want to live.

[Honest_Abe]

9. Excellent letter. I would not change a word. NM

[PoiBoy]

10. good letter...

...send it to as many papers as you can... spread the word! :hi:

[Enraged_Ape]

11. Don't add anything

Send it. It's terrific.

[demodonkey]

12. It is BEAUTIFUL...

My 86-year-old mother wants to give it to some of her friends (hope that's OK).

[EstimatedProphet]

13. AMEN!

Only one other thing you might want to add:
in that last paragraph, talking about the "tattered bible", you might want to add that they should get a full version, because the one that they have apparently left out the parts about the false prophets, otherwise they would see them every time they looked in the mirror.