Letters to the Editor (June 29, 2023)

Hate has a new mask

Editor:

I appreciate Arminda Blevins-Tibbetts’ response to my letter re: Holocaust Remembrance. It is unfortunate that she missed the point of my letter.

My purpose is not to broadly paint conservatives or Christians as Nazis or White supremacists — it is obvious that they are not all hate-mongers. But we cannot ignore the fact that those who are spreading white supremacist, Nazi-type ideologies are using the trappings of religious and political conservatives for their own hateful ends.

First, having a master of divinity degree from Harvard University, I feel my remarks about our nation’s founders were accurate. Blevins-Tibbetts stated our founders were “conventional Christians.”

The fact is “conventional” Christianity of their day, with a few exceptions, was Deism. Yes, they would label themselves as Christians, but the form of Christianity followed by the founders was very different from what we see today.

This is not to say our founders were atheists, far from it. However, their conception of divinity was of a distant God who created our world and then stepped back to allow humans to run it through reason and rationalism (Deism).

Second, I was advised to have kept my remarks to telling “some of those holocaust stories” and  not speaking about the current resurgence of White supremacist hate. As Dara Horn in her book, “People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present,” has pointed out, keeping the memory of the Holocaust to sad stories from long ago distances the ideologies and motivations behind the horrors from our current lives.

It is so much easier to have a good cry at the stories of murders and atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis than to confront the fact that the hate behind that violence is still very much present in our own day.

True, for the most part the ideologies of hate are draped in new masks and coverings, but it is still very much a force. I am sorry that those pushing the hate today have case themselves as Christians or political conservatives, but that is as it is. We have current members of our nation’s Congress who, while espousing White supremacist views have proudly declared themselves “Christian Nationalists.”

Blevins-Tibbetts, naming is not the same as name-calling. In spite of however they may be presented today, White supremacy, Christian Nationalism, Nazism and all forms of hateful ideologies are not patriotic nor do they reflect the true essence of Christianity or any other religion. They are a threat to our democracy and to the principles that our country was founded on and for.

I would ask all of us to remember the words of the philosopher, George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” To become aware of the threat posed to our democracy by the intolerance and hate of White supremacy and Christian Nationalism is a challenge we all face.

If one is unfamiliar with these threats, as Blevins-Tibbetts claims to be, I would encourage a visit to the websites of the Anti-Defamation League (adl.org) or the Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org) to learn more about these movements and all the many different hate groups currently proliferating in our country.

And then, once armed with knowledge, we all — Christians, Jews, Moslems, progressives, conservatives, everyone — can protect our democracy and the freedoms of our way of life.

 

Ron Lahti, M. Div.

Belen

 

Thanks for memorial scholarship donations

Editor:

We would like to thank the following for donating to the Jay Torrez Memorial Scholarship:

Graham McWilliam, RAK’S Building Supply, Ferhat Ahmet, Mike and Cozy Williams, Janet Yates, Marti Perry, and Jane and Terry Murray.

Glenda Baca, Marty and Lisa Chavez, Elias Barela, Gloria Carasco, Joe Myer, Jan Micaletti, Gerard and Anita Sais, William and Evelyn Braman, Paul and Loretta Baca.

Dennis Gabaldon, Jeff and Trish Jaramillo, Jerry Peralta, Joseph and Geraldine Aragon, Taryn Murray, Forrest Garcia, Belle Garcia, Frank Gurule and Cindy Otero and Rudy Ramirez.

Rudy’s Downtown Recycling, Roberta Cordova, Crystal Cordova, Gilbert Aragon, Pedro Rael and Lydia Piro Rael, Randy and Geri Gurule, John and Patty Preston, and retired Capt. Helen Smith.

Pam Cordova, Mike Melendez, Sharon Cordova, Laura Martinez – in memory of Kandy Cordova; Michael and Lynn Sanchez, Mike and Tanya Doyle and Laurie Kelstick.

We would also like to thank the Valencia County News-Bulletin and editor Clara Garcia for announcing the scholarship information.

This year’s recipients are Casey Cash Aragon, LLHS; Jordan Torres, LLHS; Micaela Hidalgo, SODA; Tyler Martinez, BHS; Paul Cieremans; LLHS; Dariya Malanyuk, BHS; Jordan Jaramillo; Elena Lopez, VHS; Felicity Barela, LLHS; and Sophia Ulibarri, LLHS. Congratulations, students!

 

Regina Chavez and Mary Torrez, MD