Continuing the ‘arduous conversation’

Re “The exchange of violence,” Opinion, July 20

Hanif Kureishi’s excellent commentary begins by stating that most Americans “no longer know what it is to be religious,” and this Euro-American viewpoint has been growing for 200 years (since 1789). I agree with Kureishi and submit that the reigning religion in the U.S. is the worship of science. Techno-worship, or gizmology, dominates most aspects of kids’ lives today. PlayStation, Internet, cellphone, riding in cars, it goes on and on.

This orthodoxy tends to suppress a wider awareness -- we keep learning more and more about less and less -- and so many children feel the shameful Iraqi war merely as another virtual conflict.

Recent reports say more than 25,000 Iraqi civilians have died since March 2003. When Kureishi states that we have to continue the “arduous conversation,” he’s right on the mark; he means honest discussion in literature, art, newspapers, the theater, the media. Dishonesty in politics and the media hampers our democracy. Moral honesty, especially in our dialogues with children and as expressed in art, may be the failing empire’s only defense against cultural anger and depression. It’s a fin de siecle feeling, like the Romans felt around 200 CE, waiting for the barbarians.

Dan McCaslin

Santa Barbara

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Is Kureishi’s commentary some sort of poorly executed parody? If not, it’s a rancid stew of outlandish bigotries. “Most religions” are characterized by a “body hatred and terror of sexuality” that lead people “to think of themselves as human bombs”? Please. Tell me this is a joke I just didn’t get.

Michele Marr

Huntington Beach