<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>This is how I feel about people that complain about the Pledge of Allegiance and saying Merry Christmas, and making fun of people for having faith. Unless someone is twisting your arm and forcing you to participate in something you disagree with, let people and things be. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Still, this is no excuse for Christians to be behaving in the same fashion towards others. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Your Friend,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Donovan Arnold<BR><BR>--- On <B>Wed, 12/30/09, Saundra Lund <I><v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From: Saundra <SPAN>Lund</SPAN> <v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm><BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] great letter to the editor<BR>To: "'Bill London'" <london@moscow.com>, vision2020@moscow.com<BR>Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 8:34 AM<BR><BR>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thanks, Bill, for sharing this – the crazy notion that religion is “good” only as long as it’s a particular “flavor” has plagued this community for far too long.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I suppose I’d be too Pollyannaesque to hope such pathetically narrow vision might change with the New Year . . . </SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Saundra Lund</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">Moscow, ID</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">~ Dalai Lama</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri', 'sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2009 through life plus 70 years, Saundra Lund. Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the author.*****</SPAN></B></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Bill London<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 28, 2009 11:13 AM<BR><B>To:</B> vision2020@secure.fsr.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] great letter to the editor</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">This letter to the editor (below) was published in the Daily News on December 25, 2009. Perhaps you were busy that day and missed it.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The message is right on.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">BL</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">------------------------------- </SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Last night I attended the Lena Whitmore Concert and found it to be a wonderful and uplifting experience - that was until the end when the parents' complaints emerged while waiting to collect their kids. It seems the "Good Christians" in our community considered themselves persecuted because they had to listen to a couple of songs not dedicated to Christ's birth.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">There were 15 songs last night; eight were Christmas songs, 53 percent. There was one song for Hanukkah, representing 7 percent of the program, and one for Kwanza for another 7 percent. The remaining 33 percent of the songs were secular and nonreligious. It seems that the Christians in our community have defined persecution as getting your way most of the time. Apparently they think they need to get their way all of the time.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I would like to take this opportunity to remind Christians they do not have exclusive rights to the month of December. In addition to Christmas, December is graced with Hanukkah, Kwanza, Bodhi Day, the Islamic New Year, Ashura, Yule, the Pancha Ganapati Festival and Hijra. Yet the Hindis, Buddhists, Pagans and Muslims do not claim persecution when none of their songs grace the elementary school program, despite having children of these faiths in the school.</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">So while Christians are singing "Peace on Earth, good will to men," they are readily engaged in religious sniping, ensuring that good will is only offered to Christian men. If Christians think they are being persecuted and lament the trials of getting your way most of the time, you should try not being Christian; perhaps then you would truly know what the face of persecution looks like. For many, persecution is found on a Christian face. Is it no wonder then, that so many are choosing not to be Christians?</SPAN></DIV>
<P class=storybody><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Khaliela Wright</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, Moscow</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<BR><BR>
<DIV class=plainMail>=======================================================<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR> <A href="http://www.fsr.net/" target=_blank>http://www.fsr.net</A> <BR> mailto:<A href="http://us.mc447.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Vision2020@moscow.com" ymailto="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>=======================================================</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></td></tr></table><br>