Re. Globe and Mail column, May 6.
Good stuff!
--JCox
Congratulations from one "recovering Catholic" and non-believer to another on today's article in the Globe.
--Frank O'Hara
Just wanted to thank Spider for the excellent essay "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" in the Globe and Mail today. My sentiments exactly. Brilliantly written, thanks for saying it so well.
--Kathleen Collin
Hi Spider...I just wanted you to know that I thought your essay in today's G and M on religion and the failures of its usual manifestations on this planet was brilliant -- five stars and five cheers! I don't usually cut pieces out of the paper, but this one goes in my scrapbook for sure. It was precise, insightful, witty, and courageous -- it took guts to say what you did, but someone at some point has got to speak the truth about how most religions have perverted their central insights so that opportunists can use churchy pretexts to seize other people's property or even kill them. I'm sure you'll get a lot of hate mail over that essay; people who point out the reality of human weakness and failure always do. But I thank you for your clarity and bravery.
Best,
rick collier
calgary
Terrific article in May 6 Globe and Mail!
I had a great laugh and agree with you whole-heartedly.
--Gary W. Howard
Your article, which I assume is a reflection of yourself, is living proof why there are wars and why man constantly disobeys the commandments of God. Your article is based on lies. For example, Pius X died in 1914 and therefore never knew the quote "Holocaust". Secondly you are ignorant about the history of the world, especially the events surrounding WWII. Your article is full of true lies and hatred, ignorance and lacks any justice. Why don't you research the history of the Kazaars and "The Protocols". There is a big difference between what God has revealed and ordained and what man in his free will has done with the Word. In the end True Justice comes to us all whether we like it or not or believe or not. There is a Hell, there is a Heaven and there is but one True Triune God that will only and can only be Truth because He is Truth. The True Catholic Church (before Vatican II) is instituted by God not man (after Vatican II the Church was and still is infected by modern man, but although man may be acting falsely, nevertheless the Church is still True). The Pope is only His Vicar (look it up in a dictionary). Since you are a professed apostate Catholic you are filled with great hatred. You are a living example of what God said of His chosen people. When of your own free will you curse God you shall fall to the lowest of the low. Look at the history of the Jews (past and present) and Catholics (present- for they are the new chosen people of the new and last covenant).
The Truth will set you free, but first you must find it, which is more difficult today because we all are tainted and corrupted by inner self conscience (me versus all, Buddha, Hindu), denial and pride (Jews), atheist materialism (modern man and relativeness), dialectic materialism (communism and socialism).
Why don't you search for Truth for a change. Surprising, impartial historical research shows it very plainly.
--Paul Zepf
I just wanted to say that I am in total agreement with what you said.
I also believe that any one who uses a religious excuse for violence is not religious at all; but, either mentally ill or just faking their beliefs so that they can do the harm.
I believe that God would not in any way want human beings no matter who they were to do harm to each other in his name and it is a shame that people actually believe all the BS that they are fed when some religious group tries to involve God in their excuse for doing something evil.
Keep up the good work.
Renata Soda :)
Thank you for Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Let the flak fly.There will be lots of it from all faiths.
You have inked what so many of us feel and rarely express publicly. My relationship with God and church always has been on shaky ground. Since my wife's death last year I have been struggling to renew a belief in God and everlasting life. She certainly deserves it. I very much want to join her in eternity.The real me can't believe this is possible. Honour your dead regularly and let them live on through genetics children,grandchildren and future generations. That is the closest I can come to a belief in a Supreme Being It causes me a lot of anguish and loneliness to think it is just a huge hoax and it is unlikely I will ever be able to be with her again except as ashes in a grave site.
Please continue with more articles similar to this one that get such a large exposure.You have helped me and many others. Thank you.
--Keith Wilkinson
The Editor:
Spider Robinson ["Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition," Globe and Mail, May 6, 2002] decries "Pius X's quiet complicity in the Holocaust." A "quiet complicity" indeed, given Pope Pius X died on the eve of the First World War.
Were ironic reminders needed, the Old Testament contains many passages where Israel's Lord God unabashedly demands genocide, enslavement and wholesale dispossession for Israel's enemies. Via such hoary, grisly texts as Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Kings, we have been bred to one of the most brutal war mythologies of all time.
In fact, the very prototype for the Muslim suicide bomber is the Jewish hero Samson who, it is said, killed thousands of bystanders, after he levelled the pillars of the building to which he was bound. The Old Testament exults (Judges 16: 30): "Those he killed at his death outnumbered those he killed in his life."
Sincerely yours,
Orest Slepokura
Mr. Robinson ;
re: your article in the Globe on religion
Not sure that it will make much difference since you are no doubt convinced that you are right but I'll give it a shot anyway.
Hypocrasy is good.
Your argument about the failings of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism oddly enough point out their success: I and all my fellow theists (in my case Christians) are hypocrits. "Thou shalt not kill" says the bible and yet we so often fail to live up to this simple, clear, commandment - not to mention all the others.
But what is the alternative? Competing ideologies such as communism, fascism, or the more virulent strains of capitalism, for example, have no such set of prohibitions on behaviour towards others. In their case, non-believers are defined as "enemies of the people" or "enemies of the state" or "losers in a competitve world". And in their case there is no book or code to go to and say "look here, it says you're not supposed to treat people like that, you hypocrits!" They have the appealing advantage of being consistent - but this also makes them much less humane.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, religion is the worst way to shape the values of society, except for all the others.
--Marc van Beusekom
