Lack of Compassion--Now That’s Scary

In “Aiming to Scare the Devil Out of You” (Oct. 27), youth pastor Shawn Anthony gave us a fine display of both his arrogance and ignorance with his statement “We’re taking back a pagan holiday and giving it back to God’s glory.”

I can only recommend that Shawn do a little reading in history or comparative religion. If so, then I’m sure he’d learn that all of the major religious holidays have been adopted from earlier, pagan holidays. Thus, there can be no giving back to “God’s glory,” since it was not his to begin with.

In this age we live in, religious leaders of all faiths should be inspiring tolerance and compassion, not proselytizing people through spiritual coercion. Ultimately, Shawn Anthony and others like him need to be reminded of the Golden Rule: Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. (Matthew 7:12).

DEREK PERUMEAN

Montebello