Personification

Ms. Ross recently [Sept. 24-Oct. 1 issue] used my original letter to further her “Christian” agenda, though she appears to have misunderstood my intent. I was writing about “the smartest one in the room”: a reference to those who think their beliefs, which have not changed since childhood, qualify them to run others’ lives through voting.

The fact is that the Bible was written during a time when few were educated, and its stories are personifications of the writers’ opinions and ideas – thus often contradictory – to make the stories more easily understood by the masses and to keep them in line.

Unfortunately, too many “believers” have reduced the idea of God to that of a petty, moody scorekeeper of “the winners and the losers.” And, also unfortunately, they vote accordingly, to the glee of the Republican Party, which implies prior to every election that all Democrats are baby killers and are taking your guns away. (I touched on those points in my original letter, so my whole intent was omitted.)

Ms. Ross seems to have that simplistic, us versus them, agree/disagree, right/wrong, black/white, offense/defense worldview.

I referred to a more mature view of life (not worldview), meaning one that is inclusive beyond the ancient, white-male setup of the Bible, which doesn’t seem to be working so well. Life on this Earth requires adaptation for survival. That means change, like it or not.

Perhaps the smartest one in the room is not a person at all, but an inclusive “presence”: the greatness of all that is good, that we all can aspire to and hopefully identify with.

Diane Evenson 

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin