Writer misses his points

Niko Theris

I would like to comment on three statements made in Dale Fincher’s

letter, “Everyone should have open minds,” Coastline Pilot, Oct. 22.

First, Fincher states, “it was Ted Bundy who claimed that he

murdered 40 women because he couldn’t justify the value of human life

based on his secular education.” Does Fincher imply that grade-school

students who are receiving a secular education are potential mass

murderers? That the value of human life is beyond the comprehension

of those who are secular? Bundy may speak for himself, but he does

not speak for all who have a secular education, just as those

God-fearing parents who murder their children and then claim that God

told them to do so, do not speak for those who have a sectarian

education.

Second, Fincher states, “But the [public] school has already

become an arena to recruit children in the ideas of an atheistic

secularism in their classroom.” Not teaching about God in public

school does not mean it recruits for atheism. Nonsense. Public

schools are secular; teaching about God is not in their curriculum.

If parents want their children to learn about God, there are private

schools, church schools and Sunday schools that are sectarian and do

teach about God. So, what’s the problem? Perhaps Fincher wants all

schools to be sectarian. To really nail atheistic secularism as

undesirable, Fincher should list for the readers all the pogroms,

crusades, inquisitions, witch-hunts and wars that were started in the

name of atheistic secularism ... (Readers: Don’t hold your breaths.)

Third, Fincher states, “Many parents send their kids (young

goats?) to Good News Clubs because it is one of the few places left

in our society where children (that’s better) can actually receive

moral teachings “ Perhaps some Laguna Beach school teachers and

administrators would like to comment on the implication that our

public schools are devoid of moral teachings.

* NIKO THERIS is a Laguna Beach resident.