Religious art - Letters to the Editor - Letter to the Editor

Progressive, The, April, 2003

As a liberal social Democrat--and a Christian--I was shocked by the February cover. To use a Christian or any religious symbol in such a demeaning and derogatory manner is insulting to leftists with religious feelings. You have probably alienated, and deservedly so, many of your liberal Christian readers like myself.

Honestly, would you have used Islam's crescent in such a shabby manner?

John Eggertsen
Salt Lake City, Utah

Just in case some of my co-religionists send you angry letters calling your February cover sacrilegious, I am sending you this "preemptive" response to assure you that, as a committed Catholic and an anti-war activist, I do not agree with such a reaction. Far from being disrespectful, Daniel Bejar's art is a moving, visual way to pose this urgent question: Should disciples of Jesus--or anyone else--support military action that does not meet the traditional criteria for a just war? After all, on January 13, the Pope himself told diplomats accredited to the Vatican: "No to war!"

Stephen M. O'Brien
Staten Island, New York