To the editor:
Being a liberal-minded happily-married man, I was utterly dismayed at the so-called informed opinions printed in the paper on Friday, May 18, especially when reading the letter from Rev. Glen Bayly. Why is it that yet again we have a person quoting from a book that has been mistranslated and misused ever since it was first written? Yes people, I am talking about the Bible. In his letter, Rev. Bayly mentions that Peter condemned homosexuality. OK, but the same holy text also states "Thou shalt not kill." Well, doesn't the Bible also contain stories about people being murdered all in the name of religion? It also mentions "Thou shalt not commit adultery." This is interesting because the same scripture also states "if a man's wife is barren, he should plant his seed in another." So on one hand it is against adultery but on the other it tells you to do so.
Now let's look at the issue of same-sex marriage. It is a person's right to be with whoever the person is; it does not matter whether it is a man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman. If they love each other, is that not the main point? Same-sex marriages are no different than marriages between a man and a woman because it all boils down to the couple's love. Some of you may still take the opinion that this is wrong, but then you are probably the same sort of person that would also condemn the 1,500 species of animals that show homosexual tendencies. So instead of condemning same-sex marriages we should actually be happy for the couple.
Rev. Bayly also mentioned the health risks associated with those that lead a homosexual lifestyle. He mentioned AIDS as one of the risks. I hate to burst his bubble but the health risks are exactly the same for homo and heterosexual relationships. For everybody's information, AIDS is not just a "gay" disease, anybody can get this disease. Sorry Rev. Bayly but the information contained in your letter was completely misleading.
In his letter Rev. Bayly mentioned abortion. OK, let's make abortion illegal. But wait a minute. What about the illegal back-street abortion clinics that would spring up? That would lead to unsafe and unsanitary practices within these clinics which, in turn, would lead to the deaths of women seeking an abortion. So on one hand we have safe, legal abortions at the present or on the other hand we would have unsafe, illegal abortions. I know that people will think that this would not happen but it will if the demand is there. Legally speaking, an unborn baby is not actually classed a living breathing entity until it reaches the fetal stage (for those of you who do not know it is the third stage - the first two being zygote and embryo).
Now, let's look at the Bible. I've said this before and I will say it again, the Bible is nothing but a book. It has been translated from Aramaic to Latin to Greek to English. This amount of translation led to scholars disagreeing about the meaning of some words. The Bible was not even written at the time of Jesus; it was written approximately two or three centuries after his death. This, people, is an historical fact. The Bible is also full of contradictions. I mentioned two of these contradictions earlier in this letter. If you are interested, all you have to do is do a search on the Internet for biblical contradictions. I guarantee you that there are hundreds if not thousands of websites dedicated to this subject.
One other thing concerning the Bible. Maybe someone can give me the answer to this. If the Bible is the sacred text of Christians, then how come this has led to some of the worst historical incidents such as the Spanish Inquisition and the wars all fought in the name of religion? Even today this text has caused more violence between races that anything or any other sacred text around.
George Fisher
Lewistown
