Letter: No middle ground in church beliefs

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

The glaring question after reading her letter is why does she consider herself "one of many practicing Catholic women" if she doesn't follow their beliefs? You either believe in God by word, thought and deed, or you don't. There's no middle ground. Jesus had a name for those who claim to but don't: it's "hypocrites."

She has it backwards. "The intense opposition" is not of the church, but toward the teaching of the Church. The Bible is God's written word, His manual for all flesh. Catholics believe that, and from the very first He created man and woman and told them to replenish the earth. That makes it the church's business.

I've studied His book for years. He never rescinded that command to husband and wife that I have ever come across, but He did give more guidelines and boundaries so that we could know right from wrong.

Unplanned pregnancies are not new. Usually they are the consequence of action. It is the pregnancies outside of marriage and those who like to play god that causes problems.

He also told us not to kill. Today's woman thinks she can choose her own actions and eliminate the consequence even if it means taking another's life. There is no way to confirm the exact number, but the last that I heard it was more than 3 million babies that have been killed here on God's earth during the last two decades in opposition to God's will, not to that of the "hierarchy of the Catholic Church."

I am not Catholic so I go directly to the Bible for myself with eyes open and listening for God's word. Speaking of "facing reality," it's time, then, for Patricia and her friends, especially if they're in a position to support or deny legislation of both state and federal levels on insurance plans, to find out what their religion is all about before they tell "the hierarchy" their business.

JOYCE EVERARD