From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Centre Daily Times STRAIGHT response Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 22:38:44 -0500 (EST) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and organizations and 53 clergy from 15 religious traditions. 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. January 9, 1998 Centre Daily Times Box 89 State College, PA 16801 Dear Editor: In his January 3 letter, Steven D. Markle (of STRAIGHT) wrote, "it is ridiculous to suggest in a free democracy that a small segment of citizens who tolerate immorality will dictate to the majority what morality should be." We would suggest that in a religiously diverse country ruled by civil law, with a constitution which mandates church/state separation, it is inappropriate for any group to dictate what morality is. Mr. Markle apparently fails to recognize that there is no official moral system, that sexual orientation is not a moral issue to many moral people, and that general legalized discrimination against any individual on the basis of a single trait is both morally offensive to many people and inconsistent with constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations iwg@libertynet.org and clergy supporting gay rights, http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ reproductive freedom, and the 215-235-3050 separation of church and state.