Sir, – I was surprised that Rev Patrick Burke (Letters, April 12th) interpreted my suggestion that all remarks that give offence to human beings be removed from the Bible (April 11th) as meaning that this would be likely to lead to my editing the Good Book to the point where nothing remained but “a set of elegant covers with a single blank page between them”.
Witty as this is on a superficial level, it is unworthy of a man of the cloth to suggest that a fellow Christian might want to completely destroy the Bible just because he believed that its many racist, sexist and homophobic remarks be edited out.
Our proposed changes to the Constitution, with a view to removing racism, sexism and homophobia from it, are not likely to leave us with a document of just one blank page between two elegant covers.
Why must religious people always go to extremes? I do not suggest that the baby be thrown out with the bathwater, but rather that the baby be given a good hot shower to remove the dirty fingerprints which some of his handlers have left upon him in their writings. Yours, etc,
DECLAN KELLY,
Whitechurch Road,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14
Sir, – How odd that we swear on a book which contains the words, reputed to have been said by Jesus: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely ...’ But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ... Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37). Yours, etc,
(REVD) HILARY
WAKEMAN,
Schull,
Co Cork
Sir, – Declan Kelly (April 11th) is right in saying that “the Bible was made for man and not man for the Bible”. But that does not mean we should censor it or remove verses. It is there to help people in their relationships, not to help them to be more religious or to spot the speck in someone else’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5). James describes it as a mirror (James 1:23-25) which shows what is in a person’s own heart. If we are offended it is usually because there is something there we need to get rid of. Yours, etc,
SEAMUS O’CALLATHAN,
Bullock Park,
Carlow