Dear editor:
I do not fault people for believing in God. My problem is with organized religion. Every organized religion thinks theirs is the only way. Jews believe in one god. Christians believe in three. Muslims believe in Mohammed. Native Americans have many gods or spirits.
When my wife was growing up in Chicago, she had neighbors that were very nice. The mother made cookies for the neighborhood kids and they all liked playing in their yard in the summer and after school. Then she started going to Sunday school and was taught that since these wonderful people were not Catholic, they would go to hell. What a wonderful thing to teach an impressionable child. She was devastated at the thought of these fine people going to hell and damnation.
In my opinion, any belief that has to use fear to recruit people is not worth my time. One other thing, Lloyd, if the Jews are God's chosen people and they do not believe in Jesus as their savior, why would God relegate them to an afterlife of hell and damnation?
Organized religion has been the bane of our existence since it was conceived. Believe in God if you will, but please leave your politics outside in the cold where it belongs. LGBT and other groups believe in God and some believe in Jesus, too. They are people who were created by God, just as you were. It is sad that your organized religion does not allow you to live and let live.
Steve Bank
Hot Springs
Editorial on 05/27/2015