Dear
HCN,
l was startled to see one
of our Idaho senatorial candidates characterized in
HCN as a “Jewish Wall Street refugee” (HCN,
10/14/02: The politics of growth). “Wall Street” is relevant;
“Jewish” is not. Mr. Blinken is not running as a Zionist, and how
he prays has not been an issue here.
In fact,
HCN has a minor tradition of using religious
labels as shorthand – other favorites in recent memory have been
“Mormon” and “born-again Christian.” Does the paper have a
religious agenda that you haven’t told us about? Or do you simply
think all Christians agree with James Watt that we don’t have to
save the forest because Jesus is coming soon, all Mormons promote –
what? All Jews believe – what?
For the record, we
are all out here: Jews, Muslims, Episcopalians, Mormons, Roman
Catholics, Buddhists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Baptists,
followers of tribal spirituality, and so on. We all live in the
West, and we all care what happens here. Please don’t foster easy
stereotypes about faith communities. Where a religious position
explicitly relates to someone’s behavior, mention it. Otherwise, it
doesn’t belong in the
story.
Darcy
James
Grangeville,
Idaho
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Religious labels are irrelevant.
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