Buddhists Lose, Bigotry Wins

* As a Catholic who grew up in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, I witnessed and experienced a lot of sectarian bigotry and religious persecution.

I have been living in the United States for more than 10 years, six of them in Yorba Linda. I believed that I could live and raise children here without the influence of bigots affecting our daily lives. Now I am not so sure.

The thinly disguised exhibition of sectarianism which took place at the Yorba Linda City Council meeting on March 4 makes me ashamed that I am a resident of that city. A very clever and misleading campaign was orchestrated by a group of people who obviously find the Buddhists--a gentle and peace-loving group--an affront to their materialistic lifestyle.

I now regret not having attended this meeting. I had the misplaced belief that the majority of the population of Yorba Linda were fair-minded people who would allow the Buddhists to build a house of worship on their property in the same way they have allowed that right to Mormons, Lutherans, Catholics and others. I was wrong. March 4, 1997, was a sad day for the birthplace of Richard Nixon. Indeed, it was a sad day for a country that claims freedom of worship as one of its most fundamental principles.

ANTHONY CAMPBELL

Yorba Linda

* Religious bigotry seems to be alive and well in Orange County. I’ve just two questions to ask the City Council of Yorba Linda: Why was the Buddhist group denied permission to build when the Mormon Church was granted permission on an adjoining lot?

Are the Buddhists likely to be noisier than other religious groups and cause greater traffic congestion than at theme parks and other points of interest in Orange County?

TOSHIKO WILKINSON

Yorba Linda