Pointing the Finger of Blame

* Re:”Greater Expectations at Irvine Bible School,” (June 10):

President Ben Johnson of the Lutheran Bible Institute makes the statement that he is concerned by “the crudeness and the crassness that’s everywhere” in contemporary culture and says, “But I think today’s secularism is temporary. People will recover their fuller humanity.”

Unfortunately, Johnson is typical of religious leaders who are always seeking a scapegoat for the failures of religion and thus never miss a chance demonize the very small percentage of secular humanists in our country for all of society’s ills.

Every recent poll tells us that about 95% of Americans believe in God. What this tells us is that the raunchiness on TV is by and large watched by believers in God, who obviously enjoy it, or they wouldn’t watch it. Johnson, instead of blaming the secularists, would do well to put his efforts into findding out why such a large majority of American believers enjoy such base and crude TV and thus ensure that it stays on the air.

Also, Johnson’s remark is typical of religious leaders who believe that only people who believe in God can live a moral life, which is nothing but utter nonsense.

JAMES R. GALLAGHER

Huntington Beach