Mailbag

Christians Should Emulate Mother Teresa

Connie Tuttle's "A New Ten Commandments for Modern American Society" (Feb. 17) was appropriate for these weird times. I consider religious fundamentalism--whether it be Christian, Jewish or Muslim--to be the most dangerous thing happening to the world. These people cannot be reasoned with--they do not think; they believe.

Christian fundamentalists are ruthless. I found myself on an e-mail list that was advocating a boycott of all Muslim businesses because of Sept. 11. When I spoke up, there were a variety of reactions, fury and threats. One of these holy people sent me a virus, which fortunately I caught before it infected my computer. And look at the fundamentalists in Israel. Their treatment of Palestinians has cost them support. My advice: Love thy neighbor Christians. Respect others' freedom of religion, and don't shove your beliefs down our throats. Keep your monuments in church. Don't repeat your bloody past. Use Mother Teresa as your example of how Christianity should be practiced.

Marilyn MacEndree

Commandments Outdate Christianity

Connie, Connie, Connie. Evidently, you haven't read the Bible lately. Although I thoroughly enjoyed your re-write of the Ten Commandments (and wholeheartedly agree with you), you got a little mixed up.

The 10 big ones, although valid as an ethical guide to one's actions, are not a Christian doctrine. The book of Exodus from which they were taken is the second book in the Bible, therefore being Old Testament--you know, Moses, Pharaoh, etc. Exodus was about the escape of Jewish slaves from Egypt. Jesus was barely a twinkle in God's eyes at that time, and many generations passed in the interim. Any person of the Jewish faith knows the Ten Commandments as well as their Christian counterparts.

First rule of journalism? Get your religion (and facts) straight!

Dawn Hutchinson

Evolutionists Aren't Guarding Truth; They're Guarding Establishment

Thank you for trying to present an honest debate recently in your article "Evolution Revolution" (Feb. 17). As usual, however, the scientific elite seized the podium with their religious mantra of "there is overwhelming evidence to support evolution." Maybe if this "overwhelming evidence" actually existed, they would have nothing to fear and would stop trying to drop names and pull "scientific weight" every time somebody shows evidence to the contrary.

What are they afraid of? I've managed to work in the scientific field for more than 23 years without believing in molecules-to-man evolution, and I've done just fine. So did many of the founding fathers of modern science, such as creationists Newton, Pasteur, Pascal, Joule, Maxwell, Boyle, Kelvin, Faraday, Mendel and the Wright Brothers (to name just a few). To say evolution is the foundation of science is ludicrous.

One of the basic problems that is misunderstood by many is that there are many things that are called evolution, some of which are easily verified (like dog breeding and bacterial resistance), and no educated person is going to deny these things. The problem is that these non-information-gaining changes are miraculously extrapolated to include a fish developing legs and lungs--huge information-gaining transitions that have been shown to be mathematically impossible. This is where the bait and switch occurs.

The other area that is often misunderstood is the fossil record. The article incorrectly states that there is "evidence of transitions from simple organisms to much more complex organisms." In reality, what we find in the fossil record are millions and millions of fully formed, non-transitional organisms. A transitional organism would be something that showed one creature turning slowly into another creature. Everything we find in the fossil record is fully formed.

You can see why the educators "fear" the questioning of evolution, because it is their faith they would have to change, and perhaps be held accountable to a power greater than their selves. When you have the truth, you don't worry about questions. When you are guarding establishment, you worry greatly.

Norm Crawford

If We Teach One Creationism, Let's Teach Others, Too

Sen. Karen Johnson says, "Science is basically the search for truth. The opposite of truth is myth. In my opinion, evolution is a myth." Is Johnson suggesting that creationism is something other than myth? Is she aware that this is the 21st century? Has she been drug tested lately?

I am one of the people in this country who suspects that there were 59 million crack users who voted on Nov. 2, 2004. There can be no other rational explanation for the results on that dark day in American history--unless, of course, this really is a country being held captive by fundamentalist Christians. There is nothing in evolution that denies a Christian version of God, that contradicts the teachings of Jesus or that requires them to have photos of australopithecines in the family album.

Let's ignore the fact that evolution has recently been proven as truth by scientists at Michigan State University. Richard Lenski has been working with Escherichia coli bacteria for more than 17 years. During that time, his 12 separate colonies have moved through 35,000 generations. All 12 of the colonies, being fed a meager diet of glucose (which creates a powerful incentive to find new ways to survive), have evolved to reproduce twice as fast as their ancestors did and have grown twice as big.

But let's ignore actual proof of evolution. Let's also ignore all the inconsistent "logic" in Genesis, and let's teach the Hebrew creation myth alongside the "myth" of evolution. If it makes them feel better, they can even call it "intelligent design." However, since I am a fair person, let's also teach all the world's creation myths on equal footing with the Genesis story.

Being Arizonans, let's teach the Hopi creation myth. The Spider Woman story is a wonderful example of an emergence myth (common among tribal cultures) that emphasizes human origin in the Earth. What a great lesson for our children. Or how about teaching one of the Hindu creation stories? I especially like the version in the Rig Veda, in which creation begins with perfect unity--the state of non-being--starting to negate itself.

It really doesn't matter which stories we teach, as long as we teach a wide variety. All the world's creation stories, including evolution, share a fascination with our world and a need to explain how humans have found themselves in the unique position of trying to understand their origins.

William Harryman

We Present This Letter in the Name of Unity

Concerning Paula Klein's need to be politically incorrect regarding the LGBT movement ("This L Does Not Want to Be Grouped With the Gs, Bs and Ts," Mailbag, Feb 24): No, of course not, Paula, you don't have to squelch your feelings. I don't squelch mine. I can't stand pushy, fat, man-hating bulldykes like you. You get into positions of power, and then you demean every man.

What do you mean gay male culture needs to do some soul-searching "around coercive homosexuality in seminaries"? Are you talking about the pedophiles the Catholic Church harbors? I don't know of any gay males who support child molestation. And speaking of child abuse, the biggest psychological abusers of children are women. Why don't you do some soul searching? Are you Dr. Laura?

And what about those barbs about unprotected HIV sex? Are you saying HIV persons can't have sex with other HIV persons? Why not? Educate me. If you are talking about STDs in the gay male community, they have gone down by 90 percent since the onset of AIDS (but have risen in the last few years).

Why don't you get your facts and your logic straightened out, or else go back to your kitchen and bake cookies; that is, if you still know how to do anything except bitch.

Alan Neff