To the editor:

A recent letter stated that “God has given us a simple way to determine choices.” The writer quoted a passage from the Bible to justify that statement: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31)

This got me thinking about how, all throughout recorded human history, people have been using God and their religious beliefs to deprive others of their freedoms, to abduct and abuse children, to abuse and treat women like objects to possess, to enslave people, to commit murder, to wage war and to commit genocide. Many of those actions were directly sanctioned by their respective religious leaders and the governments in which they held influence. Other times those actions are covered up for decades or centuries, depriving justice for those who had been so terribly wronged.

I’m not writing this to criticize any particular religion or to dissuade people from practicing their preferred religion. I’m also not claiming that I or anyone else or any book has all the answers we seek. I’m writing this to point out that those who justify their abysmal behavior as the will of God or that their deplorable actions are somehow God’s will are using the same playbook that religions and governments all around the world have used to persecute, abuse and control people for millennia.

We shape our society and the world by the choices we make. Some of those choices will inevitably be mistakes, as history shows us over and over again. There are those who seek to repeat the mistakes of the past. Perhaps they do this out of ignorance of history, perhaps they think they are serving God’s will, or perhaps for greed. I am not among them. I will learn from history. I will seek out every single perspective I can gain access to, even those I don’t agree with, in order to form a better opinion which determines my choices.

Anthony Studemann

Marshall