Our behavior up to us

Re Al Case’s letter: First, I had to locate Onia. A beautiful part of Arkansas indeed, but I did not see his glass house on Google Maps.

I would like to suggest that he plow a couple of rows with the rest of us. When I was about 20 years old, I announced to my father that organized religion was the cause of the worst tragedies in human history. I remember he opened his mouth, the paused to look at me, and seeing a closed mind, closed his mouth and walked away. I smiled and nodded my head, confident that I had won. What we both knew as we continued the conversation 20 years later was that God does not necessarily do or condone everything done in his name. I had come to know that human behavior is (barring medical reasons) up to each human.

I do not propose to try to convince Case of God’s existence. That is his decision and it does not affect mine. However, please do not use a sweeping generalization as I did at 20. The Ten Commandments, regardless of whether you believe they came from God, extraterrestrials, or were just a grain from Moses’ cultivated mind, are the basis of living peacefully with your fellow human beings. They do not make you complacent or dull. Quite the contrary. They demand that you hold yourself to very high standards of respect for yourself and for others, and that you be a kind, generous and respectful good citizen.

Neither do I say he is entirely wrong. Swindlers and greed of all kinds are rife among us, and common courtesy seems to have been abandoned for screaming or shooting at those with whom we disagree. But I beg that he keep seeking good people with which to associate. They are out there, and as he grows in understanding, he might just find that most of them admit to belonging to an organized religion. CAROL MOSELEY Mabelvale