YIPPEE - Hate Mail!

Oh, trust me - I'm awake now.

I received this letter in response to an earlier post about U.S. Congressman - elect Keith Ellison, which I also sent to the editorial page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. They published it on Sunday, 3 December.

In regard to the argument of the letter (which totally missed the point of my own, I might add), I would say the following: I think the country we'd have today, if 'founded' upon the Qu'ran, would bear a suspicious resemblance to the totalitarian state our more zealous Bible-beaters would create for us. I'm glad that I live in neither - and I'll continue to fight to keep it that way. The Bible does not bear everlasting truth of its own accord - it bears the everlasting Word of God, Jesus Christ, and from the Bible I learn far more about my own sinfulness and my need for Christ Himself than I do about the sinfulness of the world around me. If more people would actually listen to Jesus' words rather than looking for self-justification in God's word, then maybe the body of Christ would be seen more charitably.

I don't think I need to explain myself any further in regard to the post. I will, however, note that this unsigned letter arrived at our house in a holiday-theme envelope imprinted with a festive holiday wreath, a Jesus fish sticker in the return address location, and another imprint reading, "God's best to you! Christ's blessings on you!" (Philemon 1-3 The Message). Please also note the extensive clip art work, including the layering of the circle/slash over the Qu'ran AND the multicolored type. This was not some slap-dash bit of unsigned commentary - it took some work.

In the end, I still feel pretty good about this. Apparently I'm still pissing off the right kind of people.