While putting my groceries into my car, I was approached by a man with a small girl asking for money for food. It was hot, and they looked hungry. They then approached a woman and she very rudely told them she was a member of a local church and she gave to her church so she wouldn’t have to be accosted in parking lots by beggars. She then proceeded to an employee of the store and berated them for the indignity of being subject to such people and how she gave to her church, etc.

Naming sin and applying it to others does not attract anyone but the like-minded, and it oppresses the ones being judged as sinners. Brooks, in his column, pointed out that if Christians were more Salvation Army rather than Moral Majority and more Albert Schweitzer and Dorothy Day rather than Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, the culture war about religion and our country wouldn’t be so acrimonious and might be reweaving society rather than tearing it down.

If we integrated the sick, poor and powerless into our society by meeting their needs as a society rather than self-righteously putting a Band-Aid on it and patting ourselves on the back for our great mission-mindedness, maybe our country wouldn’t be in such trouble. A wonderful soup kitchen, a homeless shelter and a large jail just don’t cut it.

Sherry Wilmoth

Durango