An insult to Catholicism

Re “Thou shalt not ... forget to recycle,” Opinion, March 17

This screed insulting the Catholic religion is inexcusable. To publish this in a daily paper is an insult to every Catholic reader.

I dare Barry Gottlieb to write in this vein about the Muslim religion. He would be apologizing forever, and the Muslims would put a price on his head.

Raymond G. Boyd

Somis, Calif.

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I have a great idea for an Op-Ed article satirizing Judaism, making puerile fun of its history, traditions, beliefs and ceremonies. I think it’s perfect for your editorial pages. What’s that? You would never publish such a patently anti-Semitic screed? You would consider it unworthy of a major daily newspaper?

Then why did you give Gottlieb the space to make exactly such an attack on Roman Catholicism?

Jim Moran

Alhambra

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If an article about the Anti-Defamation League, or the merits of the Israeli wall, contained a tenth of the smart-alecky vitriol of Gottlieb’s, it would be decried as anti-Semitic.

Maria Elena de las Carreras

Northridge

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I am glad the Catholic Church is getting on the save-the-planet bandwagon, but will the pope realize that the biggest cause of pollution is too many people reproducing too rapidly? The environment cannot be saved if people do not stop breeding like rabbits. If women wait until after age 30 to have their first child, the balance of nature may be able to be restored.

Dorothy Nicholson

Inyokern, Calif.

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Gottlieb states, “The Catholic Church has lost more members than any faith in the United States.”

The author might have done well to point out that a so-called Judeo-Christian nation, whose citizens sanction murder and war the way they do, can only expect to lose followers. Otherwise, we would be nothing more than what we seem to be, a nation of illiterate hypocrites.

In addition to reminding Christians that killing is a sin, the Vatican’s sole purpose is to condone or deplore acts that are in keeping with the teachings of Catholicism, a religion I am not devoted to, yet one that many venerate.

As such, its teachings should be respected. Especially when they are reminding people to observe codes of conduct that benefit all of society.

Mandolyna Theodoracopulos

Venice