After reading “The Opiate of the Masses” in the May issue, I was left with very mixed feelings. I was relieved to know that there is at least one person in the world who has an open heart and eyes unblinded by certain teachings of organized religions. The author, Stephan Hunger, did a wonderful job expressing his concern over the hypocritical and unjust persecution of human beings. I was also left with my own renewed sense of concern over the ability of organized religion to conflict with an individual’s own thoughts.

As a Christian, I am appalled by our president’s use of the name of the Lord as a justification for war. I feel offended that President Bush thinks that using Christ’s name will make me, a Christian, support his un-Christ-like actions. What’s worse is that some Christians have fallen into his manipulative trap and now stand up for something they have blindly accepted. The blind acceptance of certain religious teachings can be defined as “faith,” but I believe that Christ would want us to think for ourselves - to be true to the God within our own souls - and to trust that we, as His perfect creation, can think and make decisions as individuals.

I do not have an anti-Bush bumper sticker on my car, but neither do I support his words or actions, or the war in Iraq. I do believe, however, that we should not bash our leader, but live just as our forefathers would have wanted: as free-thinking individuals, one nation under God - who or whatever God may be to the peoples of our diverse country.