Subject: IWG Houston - Different Belief Systems
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 22:47:26 -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.

March 8, 1998

Houston Chronicle
801 Texas Ave.
Houston, TX 77002

Dear Editors:

Morgan Shumate's March 7 letter ignores the
possibility that people with different moral opinions
are not inconsistent in their logic; they are simply
reaching their conclusions based on a different set
of moral and ethical values.  

Religious and secular opinions about such issues as
the death penalty, abortion, and same-gender marriage
can be informed by many value systems.  These systems
can include, but are certainly not limited to,
believing that: 1) all humans have a sacred worth; 2)
we are endowed with certain inalienable rights; 3)
rights are only earned; 4) people can be judged by
other people; 5) God is the only ultimate judge; 6)
procreation is paramount; 7) each person is entitled
to control his/her own body; 8) gender roles are
predetermined; 9) gender is not important; 10) the
spirit of the law is most important; 11) the letter
of the law is most important; 12) each individual may
interpret scripture for him/herself and draw
individual conclusions; and 13) only religious
authorities may make legitimate interpretations of
scripture.

There are people who are well-schooled in both the
Jewish and Christian traditions, people from other
faiths, and people with no religious background at
all; within all of these groups, you will find those
who fall on both sides in debates on social issues
such as those mentioned above.  It is exactly the
enormous variation in values and morals among
Americans that leads some to believe that teaching
"the mechanics of birth control in public schools
without the teaching of moral values is a proper
course of action."  If we are going to teach moral
systems in the public schools, it should be a
comprehensive survey of all of them.  Leave the
teaching of any specific system--which the children
are expected to follow--to the parents.

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.