Letter-writer Frank Jeffries asked, “What would Jesus do?” (ADN, March 31) to decide the winner of the Lumen Christi-Ninilchik basketball game. That reminds of a cartoon on my refrigerator. It shows God sitting on his celestial throne watching a TV set. He waves away an angel carrying a long list and says, “I can’t deal with any famines, massacres or epidemics right now — I’ve got to help some guy sink a foul shot.”
The ADN reported the other day that a poll finds church membership in the United States to be at an 80-year low. Is there any wonder? There are hundreds and hundreds of religions, each contending that it has the truth and that all of the others are wrong. It doesn’t take a great mental leap to conclude that they are all correct about the second part and that, in fact, none of them is a credible source of supernatural truth about the world we live in.
There is no denying, of course, that religious communities perform innumerable good deeds and that many people’s faith offers them comfort in confronting the difficult issues that are part of the human condition. But it doesn’t surprise me that increasing numbers of people are beginning to look for their answers in this world. That doesn’t make the great questions of existence any easier to deal with, but at least it grounds them in reality.
Mr. Jeffries seems absolutely right in being frustrated with how the winner of the game was decided. But the entire fault lies on this Earth with Lumen Christi and the officials.
— Herb Berkowitz
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.