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What About Radical Christian Terrorism?
Donald Trump likes to spout off about “Radical Islamic Terrorists” as part of his targeting of Muslims. He never mentions “Radical Christian Terrorists.” We certainly have them. Hitler and the Nazis of the 1930s were Christians. The Serbs who “cleansed” Muslims out of Kosovo in the 90s were Christians as well. Past terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh, Dylan Roof, etc. should be identified as Christian, not just mentally ill. The Alt Right, the KKK, the neo-Nazis and white supremacists of today are primarily Christian although they are never identified as such. Virginia is an open-carry state and many brought their weapons to the rally in Charlottsville including AR-15s. That’s terrorism. If I had been there I certainly would have been terrified to see an assault weapon pointed at me.
Let’s face it. Any religion can produce terrorists because reason and logic must be set aside in order to accept the magic which is part of some religions (not all, but Islam and Christianity are included). We can’t expect Trump to disavow Christian terrorism when he is part of it. His racism is evidenced in past lawsuits over refusing to rent to blacks and his current nomination of Sam Clovis to the USDA. It is Trump’s rhetoric that encouraged these people to come out of the shadows with their weapons. Rally speakers at Charlottesville mentioned their friend in the White House. He is also the friend of the NRA, which protects the profitable gun business (70 percent of the sales price of a Glock is profit).
To be sure, the Alt Right is in alliance with the Bible in that both are anti-gay, pro-slavery, anti-black, anti-women, anti-science, etc. Although still anti-Semitic, the new Nazis are also anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican, etc. It’s our job now to convince the evangelicals to put the Bible aside, bring back REASON and not be convinced that they need to be part of this movement. Can we ever get Trump to say the words, “Radical Christian Terrorism”? If he could maybe the Alt Right would not be able to gain support from Bible-believers for their horrible mission.
—Malita Brown, Wilbraham
Smoking and Driving Laws are on the Books
As a former Valley resident who now lives in New Mexico near the Colorado border, I read with interest your recent article about marijuana-impaired driving (“Marijuana-Impaired Driving a Sticky Subject,” Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2017).
Your readers should know that Colorado employs severe laws for those driving while stoned. An impaired parent with a child in the car can be charged with child abuse and lose custody. Other laws equal or exceed DUI violations.
These laws are posted and available at all of Colorado’s professionally operated recreational marijuana emporiums.
—Daniel A. Brown, Taos, New Mexico (formerly from Greenfield)
Proud of Little Ol’ Easthampton
I’ve already seen most of these docs (“Valley Show Girl: Viewing Punk at Home — Six punk-rock documentaries reviewed and recommended,” Sept. 7-13, 2017) — but as a former Western Mass punk rocker myself, discovering the doc about Wmass Punk was pretty sweet. I was actually back this summer and caught some shows at Flywheel — Still shocking to this old Wmass-er that ol’ Easthampton is finally ‘cool’ lol.
—Bruce Farce, website comment
Correction: In “The Sacred Space in Between,” Sept. 14-20, 2017, the artist’s name was misspelled. The correct spelling is Susannah Auferoth.
