Questions in the face of Griem’s answer

Re: “Should India send a mission to Mars?” In Theory, March 3: When asked whether India should launch a scientific mission to Mars, Rev Griem says “Utterly ridiculous…India needs to feed itself, clean its filthy waterways, and get out of its third-world malaise.”

However, India is substantially more equal than the United States based upon the Gini coefficient, the standard measure of inequality used by economists. I wonder what he thinks about our spending of more than 600 billion on defense when our infrastructure is falling apart, 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, one in five children go hungry, and our math and science students trail the rest of the world.

Additionally, he seems to say the cause of India’s problem is the fact that “India is a country of Hindus.” He then contrasts the Hindu religion with his religion. Using his logic, if the Hindu religion caused the problems in India, which in fact are not as great in America, why isn’t his religion the cause for ours?

Richard Bennett
Glendale