To the editor:
James Brown’s Aug. 13 letter to the editor ("How far will racist claims go?") highlights a serious, growing issue in our nation regarding public opinion. In Mr. Brown’s letter he wrote, “By the way, for all you self-righteous Christians that don’t have a racist bone in your body, you have probably sung, "I Love Him," a song that is set to the tune of "Old Black Joe" written by that "racist" Stephen Foster. Are you sure you aren’t a racist?”
There are racists and bigots in all segments of our greatly diverse society, so why did he feel it was necessary to single out Christians and call them self-righteous? The problem with these accusations against Christians is many people believe them just because they saw them in a newspaper.
Certain groups in the US are well aware that if untruths are repeated loud enough and long enough, people will start to believe them. We saw that in the 20th century and and to this very day around the world — even in the United States. In our culture, attacks against the Christian community are increasing at an alarming rate. It was completely unnecessary for him to throw baseless accusations at Christ-followers alone in order to get his point across.
Neil Hiatt
Whiteland
