In the West we believe in personal

privacy, and a natural outgrowth of that belief has been a gradual relaxation

of prejudices against private, adult, consenting sexual behavior. The

leap to incest, bestiality, and paedophilia is an unwarranted fear, and

not supported by our historic interest in protecting personal adult privacy.

If you are going to rule society

with Old Testament biblical passages, stop being so picky. I expect to

see you out dragging people into church, hunting down blasphemers, destroying

whole races on the basis of their perceived acceptability to God, sacrificing

goats, and doing all the things a nomadic band of desert dwellers is supposed

to do.

I don't know if your book is

infallible, Mr. Turner, but in the presence of human fallibility it is

often the source of real harm. If you want present-day proof, the state

of Florida just executed Mr. Eye for an Eye.

And if you don't remember your

Christian history, the religion of Christ's followers made its greatest

gains while still a persecuted, illegal minority.

The Romans were astounded not

only by the way Christians died (not very sporting really; had to kill

them in the Forum because they simply refused to fight) but the way they

lived. "Look at these Christians, how they care for each other; how

they care for the least among them, and among us."

Those Christians didn't feel

the need to condemn others. They did inspire others by their Christ-ness

and eventually have helped to make the world a better place. Personally,

if I were a better Christian, I would resist the impulse to write these

nasty letters.

Timothy J. Parker

Peachtree City, Ga.