Dear Simeon

I admire your courage. It isn’t easy trying to justify the murder of infants and children. My point: If a verse of bible is to be viewed in context, so is a verse of the Quran. If your arguments are acceptable for the defense of the verses in the bible, so should such arguments be accepted in defense of the verses of the Quran. Fair?

Let’s conduct an experiment: To someone who has neither read the bible, nor the Quran, read these verses of the bible, telling them that they were from the Quran. Now try to assuage their sense of outrage. Tell them that “God knows best”, and that the human criteria of cruelty need to be altered, and that the infants and children were ordered killed to “rid the area of pagans” and to establish “His dominion”. Assure them that they are outraged because their “finite human comprehension” is flawed. Tell them “It was God’s justice”. To see how far you get, you might even drag Mr. Truman and the atomic bombs, and the Southern Churches and slavery into it. I bet they will respond to your arguments like they do to those of Mr. Charles Manson, and Mr. Jeffrey Dahmer and the son of Sam.

I dare say your blind faith argues rather well. Blind faith is known to smother the conscience. Why else would anyone even bother to defend the murder of infants?

To clear the air, let me say that I do not condemn the bible entirely. Most of it is wonderful and remarkably insightful, like this one verse: You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Mat 7:5