“Beyond Belief” (Dec. 12) is beyond belief! What is it about born-again Christians that makes them feel they must go out and convert other people in order to save their own souls? And native Americans at that!
These white Christians still don’t understand the history between the white man and native Americans and are perpetuating their own feelings of religious/racist superiority. Haven’t we learned anything about respect for other people?
For 500 years the Yuqui have been able to resist the hypocrisy, enslavement, indoctrination, exploitation, diseases, racism and oppression that other native groups have not. Would these Christians like the Yuqui to become “civilized,” head for the urban areas and live in unspeakable poverty with other indigenous people? In what way will their lives be better after they are converted?
The heroes of the story are the Yuqui; I’m cheering for them. It will be a tough challenge for them to convert and save the souls of the Christians!
NANCY MYERS, Wilmette
I hardly know how to respond to the ironies in the article about missionaries teaching Christianity to the Yuqui people of Bolivia. First, there was the image of these missionaries confronting the Yuqui with a .357 magnum, a pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun.
Apparently they were just as ready to kill them as to save them. I imagine Gary Marx was delivering the greatest irony when he stated: “The Yuqui also don’t have words for adultery, wealth, murder, country or war-something that makes translating the Bible quite difficult.”
RON WEDDIGE, Western Springs
Ban the gun laws
I am writing about the interview of Phil Andrew (Chicago Voices, Dec. 12), who has made a career of gun control after being shot by Laurie Dann.
Mr. Andrew could easily have avoided being shot by not inviting a crazy-acting stranger into his parents’ home. However, he did invite her in, got himself shot and his parents terrorized, and now is lecturing others on gun control. Better he lecture youngsters (adults know better) on the dangers of inviting strangers into the home.
Control laws breed crime. The alcohol ban gave us organized crime, and booze was always plentiful. Gun bans will create the “mother” of criminal enterprise, and the country will be awash in guns!
D. KUO, Chicago
The legislation referred to by Mr. Andrew has nothing to do with criminal misuse of firearms, but it attempts to penalize legitimate gun ownership with taxes of $1,000 on a box of ammunition, or make the manufacturer of a gun liable for the misuse of their product. The sole purpose of the legislation proposed by Handgun Control Inc., and their satellites is to eliminate private ownership of firearms.
More gun laws will not stop criminals from using guns; they will only disarm the potential victims. We have already seen examples of the use of existing gun laws to “take out” the Politically Incorrect, at Waco, Texas. More badly aimed laws will only give more opportunity for misuse, encouraging further employment of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI as Storm Troopers.
EDWARD F. ARNOLD, Chicago
