Letter to the Editor:

I would like to respond to an arti­cle writ­ten in the Nov. 11^th edi­tion of the Torch titled, “Peace, love, and reli­gious tol­er­ance.” The author stated that, “No one was forc­ing any­one to look at that mes­sage, and if some­one didn’t like the mes­sage they could have just ignored it and kept walk­ing.” However, shortly after mak­ing this state­ment the author then states, “I under­stand how one might find it frus­trat­ing to have a reli­gious mes­sage forced onto them.” Clearly she is con­tra­dict­ing her­self. The major­ity of the Ferris cam­pus is most likely Christian, as is true of the Nation. However, I rarely find reli­gious mes­sages on cam­pus and in the Nation that are Islamic, Buddhist or even Atheist-based. When we do find a mes­sage from a minor­ity belief sys­tem things like the author’s arti­cle get­ting pub­lished in a school’s paper hap­pen far too often.

The author also com­plained about, “the defile­ment of the orig­i­nal mes­sage.” If this mes­sage had been writ­ten on its own some­one from the major­ity belief sys­tem on cam­pus would have still had a prob­lem with the mes­sage. If only the author would heed her own advice, “You don’t have to accept some­one else’s reli­gion, but you should accept that they have a right to believe as they choose.” It is obvi­ous that the author has not yet applied this the­ory to action. When we hear about respect­ing and appre­ci­at­ing diver­sity it espe­cially applies to opin­ions which we vehe­mently dis­agree with. The vic­tims of dis­crim­i­na­tion can call for more tol­er­ance and accep­tance not some­one who belongs to the major­ity of soci­ety and is doing the most intol­er­ance. A truly accept­ing and diverse cam­pus hears all belief sys­tems not just the majority’s.

Natasha Gibbons
Senior, Social Work

Editor’s Note You can view the orig­i­nal arti­cle here: Peace, Love, and Religious Tolerance.