To the Editor:
As members of the campus ministry group of the Tucker Foundation and as individual leaders of student religious organizations, we decry and condemn the religious tracts, and their distribution, which have been received by many members of our community -- gays, lesbians and bisexuals, Jews, Christians, many persons of integrity and good faith. We are saddened and outraged. Bigotry and hatred in the name of religion are still bigotry and hatred. We reject them.
All members of the Dartmouth community are given mournful reason to pause and question -- as individuals and in groups -- whether these cowardly acts are not of the same ugly fabric as the ethnic/religious cleansing that terrorizes the Balkans, the fear and rejection that killed Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., or the suspicion towards difference which too often haunts our communities.
We recognize that our religious and moral truth claims often have sharp edges. But we reject the fanatical impulse which allows these claims to condemn those who differ and render strife and division within our larger community. We believe it is possible for us, each in her or his own religious community, to lift high the banner of particular truth and yet not succumb to turning these positive values into negative claims about others.
Jews now celebrate the Passover, God's delivery from slavery and captivity. Muslims soon celebrate the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina and the establishment of the Islamic community. Christians celebrate the holiest time of their year, new life symbolized by Easter. Many Hindus and Buddhists soon mark their New Year celebrations, times of renewal and harvest and hope. What a beautiful tapestry in which the divine Spirit speaks to the whole human family!
We hope that the perpetrators of these sad, hurtful actions will be delivered from their anger and hatred. Even more, for those who are targets of such bigotry, we offer our heartfelt prayers, our shared sadness, and our energetic commitment to stand with you and offer sources of religious and moral strength.
James Adams, St Thomas Episcopal
Deneal Amos, Meditation
Carla Bailey, United Church of Christ
Edward Boraz, Roth Center for Jewish Life
Donna Cavedon, United Church of Christ
Robert Collier, Christian Science
Paul Feeney, Orthodox Christian Fellowship
Michael Fonner, Our Savior Lutheran
Richard King, Latter Day Saints
Andrew Kline, St Thomas Episcopal
Anna Mae Mayer, Aquinas House
Bryant Patten, Society of Friends
Lindsay Whaley, Asian Christian Fellowship
