Editor:

My letter is in response to Daniel W. Martin's guest comment ("Christian Right failed to explore U.S.," Dec. 8). For those who missed the column, let me summarize::

"Christians are stupid and hate everyone, and they're so dumb because they don't take the chance to get to know anyone or to understand people before they hate them, and they just want to hate people and not understand them, so I hate them."

My first response to this letter was to blast this guy out of the water - being a devout Christian (and more right than left), I was highly offended. But, following Jesus' demand to turn the other cheek and be a peacemaker, I asked God's forgiveness for my reciprocating attitude, and decided to instead discuss this matter in a way that may actually do some good.

I have heard many "liberals" accuse Christians of being close-minded, hateful and prejudiced toward people as groups instead of understanding them as individuals. I have also heard Christians accuse liberals as being hateful, closed to anything that a Christian has to say, and prejudiced toward Christians as a group instead of understanding them as individuals. The problem here is that people are not looking for a way to live together peaceably, as dictated both by Jesus and by the pluralistic goals most liberals adhere to, but instead are looking for a way to boost their own pride and find an enemy to attack and blame for the problems in society. Christians have been no less guilty of this than liberals. We want to think of "the other guy" as evil, thinking that we are somehow better, and suddenly we can't imagine that they might have honorable motives in their hearts. Mr. Martin's column broke down in the end to a malicious frenzy of name-calling and insult-casting, right after telling us that ". all Americans, regardless of culture, skin color, religious beliefs or sexual preferences, are all beautiful and equal." Three paragraphs later he speaks of the "odious rancor" which we preach. I guess that "religious beliefs" in this statement is in exclusion of Christian beliefs.

The truth is that Mr. Martin isn't the problem, as most Christians reading his column probably thought, but neither are Christians, as he asserted. We both are. It is in our nature to take good, healthy motives and beliefs and destroy everything good in them when we get caught up in the frenzy of hatred. Jesus Christ taught love and understanding of others, he ate and drank with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors, and condemned the Religious leaders for not doing so. So, to all of my fellow Christians, if the only dealings that you have with liberals involves throwing stones at them, take a minute to ask Jesus where he is in all of this. I'm sure you'll see Him standing there trying to catch your stones before they damage anyone so much that they will hate your Master forever. To the non-Christian liberals, I cannot appeal to you to follow my Master's pleas, but I don't think that is necessary, anyway. I know that the original motives behind much of your rhetoric (which can often be just as dogmatic as Christian rhetoric) was to foster understanding between people, just as my Savior commanded.

I want to assert that one of the biggest problems with Christians and liberals is not in our beliefs or goals, but in our hearts. Christians think that liberals are just plain evil, since it seems to us that evil is their end goal. Many of my liberal friends have very honorable motives, though I don't always agree with their means, and I think we need to understand this. Liberals, on the other hand, think of Christians as being "ignorant despots," and can't imagine that we could have any pure motives, but we do. Every belief system has one major flaw - anyone can claim that they are following it while using its power selfishly, greedily, and even bloodthirstily. Some may claim they follow it while being simply too apathetic to find out what it truly is that they follow, or what the original motives behind their beliefs are. Many Christians and liberals alike fall into this category.

Christopher A. Chapman
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Junior