Subject: IWG Atascadero News letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 17:00:33 -0500 (EST)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and religious
organizations and 50 clergy from 15 faiths and denominations. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

November 27, 1997

Atascadero News
PO Box 6068
Atascadero, CA 93423

Dear Editors:

In his November 21 letter Richard Kinz complains about
"presumptuously misusing" the Bible's teachings to
support equality for sexual minorities against God's
laws and public disapproval.  He specifically cites I
Corinthians 6:9 (a list of the types of people who will
not go to heaven, including "homosexuals" according to
many translators, although the word in Greek means soft
or feminine and makes no reference to that person's sex
life).  

Mr. Kinz is ignoring the reality that a) not all
Americans are Christians; b) Christians use different
translations of the Bible; and c) there is a wide
variety of opinion among people of all faiths about
what it means to do God's will.  Fortunately, the first
Amendment to the Constitution contains religious free
exercise and anti-establishment clauses that allow each
of us to decide for ourselves what it means to live a
moral life, to act on our own beliefs within the limits
of civil law, instead of being forced to conform to the
beliefs and practices of our neighbors.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.