LETTER- Jesus would weep

Published online 8:00am Thursday Aug 17th, 2006
and in print issue #0533 dated Thursday Aug 17th, 2006

Breathes there a writer– with ego so alive– who never to herself has said, "Damn, I wish I'd written that!" John W. Whitehead's splendid August 10 essay, "What would Jesus bomb?" fueled just such a wish.

Those dedicated to religious conversion see no dichotomy between ecstatic embrace of the pro-life ethos and celebrating the destruction of "non-freedom loving" lives. In so doing, their hypocrisy is elevated to– umm– Rapturous heights.

Although I am a devout skeptic, the image evoked by the words "Jesus wept" has always moved me. If he were to witness those who wear their right-wing, violence-condoning Christianity on both sleeves, Jesus would, indeed, weep.

Barbara Rich
Charlottesville