Display misrepresents Christian faith
It was hard to miss the man shouting for hours atop the steps to Kerckhoff Hall. As I passed by I heard him screaming things such as, “homosexuals are going to hell,” “sinful people are going to hell” and “if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you’re going to hell.” It was disturbing to hear every sentence end with the phrase “you are going to hell.” As the crowd dispersed, I asked some onlookers what they thought and found their responses of indignation and disbelief to be quite similar to my own.
In my opinion, the Christian faith was grossly misrepresented yesterday and continues to be on a regular basis by people with such approaches to public evangelism. I believe the message conveyed by that man to be, both in content and method of presentation, one of condemnation, which is the complete opposite of the message of the Gospel. I don’t believe it is that man’s nor anyone’s prerogative to condemn others to hell, and that to publicly do so is completely inappropriate and gives a wholly false image of Christians. It is provocative events such as this that contribute to a widespread misconception of Christianity. As a Christian I would like to say that I do not in any way identify myself with or support the display that was witnessed by many Wednesday afternoon, and I was truly shocked and disgusted to see it.
Brittany Buckalew
Third-year, English
Gas prices result of slashed interest rates
The article “Just how high will gas prices climb?” (News, May 21) neglects to mention the drop of the dollar as a major cause for rising gas prices. Indeed, oil is quoted and paid for in dollars throughout the world. Yes, China and India bid for their needed oil in dollars too. Of course, the speculators get in for the ride, as they did with stocks, houses, hedge funds and tulips in centuries past. But make no mistake about it, the primary cause of the current bubble in oil is the reckless lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve to salvage the financial system and (they will never admit that) to pay debts with printed (cheaper) dollars and inflation.
Joaquin M. Fuster, M.D., Ph.D.
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior