Hello Mr. Robinson,
Just a note to say I thoroughly enjoyed and totally agreed with your article in today's Globe. Your logic is so clear and convincing, it amazes me that so few have picked up on it over the years.
Regards,
James Marks
As a reformed Catholic all I can say is "way to go! Spider".
--Terry Rooney
Dear Sir:
I thank Spider Robinson for his candor. (Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition) He is right about vicious religions.
I am not a Buddhist, but one of the reasons Buddhism didn't get off the rails was that Siddhartha Gautama left behind a warning with respect to even his own teachings:
Do not go by what is handed down, nor on the authority of your traditional teachings. When you know of yourselves: These teachings are not good: these teachings when followed out and put in practice conduce to loss and suffering--then reject them. Don't tell me what you believe. How could this matter?
People can--and do--believe in the most ridiculous--and convenient--things. But what is practiced should pass Buddhas litmus test:
"Do good. If you can't do good, at least don't do harm."
--Clint Unwin Nanaimo, BC
PS: The long quote above is from "The Religions of Man" by Huston Smith. Pg 95 of paperback, 1958. The short one was always quoted by my late mother-in-law who actually carried it out.
Dear Spider
Congratulations on saying what you did in this article. Recently I have become very concerned about the same issues.
You'll no doubt get a lot of heat from some quarters but it's the truth.
Good Luck and may your god go with you.
--Richard West
Sir,
Although your article was interesting reading, I must object to your characterization of the three of the four religions that you singled out that I do know something about. All of them, properly followed, do in fact abhor killing - it is only fringe elements that believe that is a correct way to operate. Although I agree that the people in them may not be perfect - that does not say anything with respect to the institution itself. No human being is perfect, but that should not stop everyone of us for striving for that goal.
Keith Reichert
Student at Law
Thank you for a great editorial (Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, Globe and Mail 05/06/02). It's not often we get to hear the truth about religion. Keep up the good work!
--Andrew Cowan
I read Spider's article Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition from the GLOBE AND MAIL. I'm happy to see that there is hope for humanity. I'm sure you guys are going to hear from all kinds of idiots whose temples are in the wrong ZIP codes. I just wanted to offer some encouragement and I hope you hear from many more like me.
Sincerely,
George Wolf
In response to your Globe and Mail article entitled "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition".
Your started by indicating you don't believe in a God that advocates hell for all eternity, but Hell does exist because Jesus said so:
" weeping and gnashing of teeth in the burning furnace" (Mt 13,42), "gehenna, where the worm does not die and the fire is NOT quenched" (Mk 9,43-48; cf Mt 5, 22), where God can " destroy the soul and the body" (Mt 10,28).
Sounds to me it's for all eternity! Note that God's forgiveness is also for all eternity, and God's forces no one to be with him for all eternity. Hell is your choice, and not his, after all he died on the cross so you could be saved. There is a consequence to sin, and if there was not, morality would be meaningless!
You asked about the Catholic faith: 1) How many Catholic Cardinals have condemned people who have killed abortionists.
I ask you to show me where in the Catholic faith it is OK to kill anyone? Show me which Cardinal who has endorsed the killing of anyone? Pro-life groups and the Catholic Church have condemned the killing of these abortion doctors, and the only reason you are asking the above question is because you support abortion. Support of abortion means you go to hell. Now I see why you don't believe in a God who sends people to hell for all eternity, because such a God sits in judgment of you.
2) Bishops who cover for pedophile priests.
If people do not follow their own Catholic faith, then how is the religion responsible? You make the faith responsible, because you are an anti-Catholic, and you are using this issue to condemn the morality that the Catholic faith teaches, simply because you don't agree with it.
3) Pius X quiet complicity in the Holocaust.
That's an absurd statement, considering that the Catholic Church as an institution saved more Jews during WW2 than any other organization or person, and Pope Pius X received an award from the State of Isreal for recognition of this fact. Pope Pius X did speak out once, and the Nazi's responded by rounding up Catholic's like Edith Stein, a Catholic Nun who converted from the Jewish faith, and whio was sent to a death camp and executed. Of course you don't mind if the Nazi's kill thousands of Catholics every time the Pope opened his mouth.
Let me ask a question: Are you complicit in the our modern day holocaust where millions upon millions of innocent children are killed by their own mothers through abortion?
The editors of the Globe and Mail are as guilty as you for printing your anti-Catholic article. But it does not surprise me, as it's not the first time that the Globe has allowed trash like your article to be printed.
Gordon Vink
good job spider!
peter kossowski
kelowna bc
Thanks for your opinion piece in the Globe today. I loved it.
Bob Allen
Humanist Association of Canada
