Turning the other cheek

Re: Many Faiths, Many Sins, Rex Murphy, Feb. 7. It’s no surprise that of all religions to make a negative comparison to, Barack Obama would use Christianity.

This is because it is politically incorrect to say anything negative about any other religion and Christians generally do not respond with violence. Imagine if a Christian had burned the Jordanian pilot alive and Mr. Obama used Islam as a point of negative comparison. Not only would there be a bounty on his head, but to which event would he refer? It seems there’s a story every day about Muslims committing some sort of atrocity in the name of Islam.

The fact Mr. Obama had to use events like the Inquisition or the Crusades shows atrocities committed by Christians are rare.

James Kang, Toronto. The sad part about Rex Murphy’s column is that almost everyone younger than Rex (and me) would totally agree with President Barack Obama’s rebuke to Christianity. His comparison of Mr. Obama to Abraham Lincoln is impressive, but he could have gone further back in the 19th century to compare Christian and Islamic attitudes toward slavery.

Slavery has been a horrible constant throughout human history. Christian countries profited from slavery in the 17 th and 18th centuries. Europe and America were the retailers of slaves, and people in the Islamic world were the wholesalers. The movement to end slavery started with committed Christians in England and elsewhere in the late 18th century. This movement to end slavery never took hold in the Islamic world and, in fact, continues to this day.

It would have been nice if Mr. Obama’s prayer breakfast speech had referred to this curious bit of history. More people should know about it. In fact, everyone should.

John Bateman, Toronto.