Dear Editor: Organized Religion

Dear Editor,

This letter is not in response to anyone. It IS, however, a bit of a diatribe! The main subject of this letter may engender a negative response among certain people in this town; but then, sometimes the pot just NEEDS to be stirred! Not to be too negative though, it would seem that, for the last few thousand years, since the beginning of time, human beings have committed many atrocities in the name of their favored deity, or "God." Basically, what it comes down to is, that if you don't believe in our god, or accept our religion, then you will have to die! Thankfully, we haven't quite experienced this (YET) in the good ole U.S. of A., but sadly enough, this is almost a daily occurrence in certain hotspots around the world!

In all honesty, one cannot blame religion for all the problems in the world, to say nothing of our quiet little town, with its multitude of churches.

James, the brother of Jesus, describes a religion that takes care of widows and orphans in their distress, in essence looking after the needs of people regardless of their race or religion, to whatever extent we can.

Most religions that have been organized by man, or humanity, are based on control: control and FEAR! They tell us that, if we don't worship their deity or follow their rules, we will die! They pit man against man, woman against woman, brother against brother, and sister against sister. Worse yet, they turn the child against the parent, just because this person believes differently than that person!

The separation brought about by organized religion is unnecessary: worse than that, it's detrimental to our health as a race! We were made to complement each other, not to harm or even kill each other. When we can put aside our differences and come together as one human race, with our only religion being to love one another, then maybe we can, not only survive but WIN in this thing we call Life!

As always, I welcome any feedback, positive OR negative!

Charles Haddon Shank

Whitehall, Montana