Christian Decries ‘Absurd Demands’

The zealous crusade of Donna Voetee and her so-called fellow Christians and the craven capitulation of the Long Beach Unified School District to their absurd demands leave me as both a teacher and a Christian deeply disturbed.

If we are to ban books which have won the Newberry prize from school libraries just because they upset Voetee, what other mischief can we expect from this little cadre of know-nothings?

If we are to define a seance as any discourse between a human being and an immortal or supernatural creature and ban all literature which contains such “seances” on the grounds that they disturb Voetee’s rather peculiar interpretation of Christianity, then our whole school curriculum needs to be drastically revised.

After all, didn’t Macbeth and Hamlet also conduct seances? And what could we term the happening in “A Christmas Carol”? If we must ban everything relating to occult happenings, perhaps we need to eliminate “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Perhaps we should forbid teachers from playing recordings of “The Nutcracker” or showing videos of any of Tchaikovsky’s ballets.

As a Christian, I wish that Ms. Voetee would stop using the name of Jesus to promote her own brand of religious fanaticism.

--WILLIAM JOSEPH MILLER

Lynwood