I just wanted to briefly respond to Jacob Anderson’s letter on Friday, March 5.

He asserts in his letter that liberals are off base with their respect and tolerance of conflicting views, and brings in Jesus himself as witness that Anderson has the absolute truth in his back pocket with his fundamentalist interpretation of the New Testament.

Anderson mentions Jesus’ response to Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” in the fourth Gospel.

Read your New Testament, Mr. Anderson! Jesus is silent and has no response to Pilate’s query. He says he is sent “to bear witness to the truth,” but in the end is unwilling, or unable to define it.

Could it be that Jesus himself might be a liberal relativist? After all, he reinterprets the law found in the Old Testament that says clearly states, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

Jesus goes on to say he has invented a new law, to “turn the other cheek” (a profound sentiment, even if it flies in the face of received tradition).

One of my great personal heroes and the founder of Christian relativistic ethics is the liberal German Lutheran minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

At a time when both the Lutherans and the Catholics of Germany were unwilling to stand up to Hitler’s tyranny and anti-Semitism, Bonhoeffer concluded Hitler was evil and that it is not only OK to assassinate him — it was his duty as a Christian.

He became involved with a plot to kill Hitler, was found out and languished in prison for months before being hanged just before the liberation. His letters and papers from prison are the classic statement of Christian situational ethics.

It’s amusing to me how those who worship the Bible with such zeal are often so ignorant of its contents.

Dennis Raverty

Assistant Professor

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