Religious intolerance in the Diamond State

Can any reasonable Christian imagine Jesus enunciating his great command: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel" – and then adding to this admonition: "And when you outnumber the unconverted, ram it down their throats"?

In June 2004, at a Georgetown, Del., high-school graduation, the invocation by the Rev. Jerry Fike of Mt. Olivet Brethren Church proclaimed Jesus as the only way to the truth.

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And the New York Times also reported that the Rev. Fike told them: "Because Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, I will speak out for him. The Bible encourages that. Ultimately he is the one I have to please. If doing that places me at odds with the law of the land, I still have to follow him."

If Jesus is the only way to truth, as this clergyman claims, what about all those Jewish prophets who Jesus quoted and revered – but who were never baptized?

For that matter, while Jesus was baptized, where is there any biblical record that any of his 12 (Jewish) Apostles were ever baptized?

And wasn't one of the worst eras in Christian history when the (allegedly) Holy Inquisition, instead of preaching the Gospel, tortured and burned to death those who dared to disagree with the perpetrators' interpretation of it?

When Mona Dobrich went to the Indian River School District board meeting and asked that the school board consider prayers that are generic and less exclusionary, it ignited a local storm.

One speaker said to her: "If you want people to stop calling your son 'Jew boy' you tell him to give his heart to Jesus!"

I am compelled to ask: "Which Jesus do you mean? Are you referring to that one-time resident of Nazareth who was both a boy and a Jew? And when crucified, was identified by a Roman-ordered sign as 'The King of Jews'?"

I am, as a Christian and a talk-radio host, terribly sorry to see the Times quotation from Dan Gaffney, a host at talk-radio station WGMD in Rehoboth, Del.:

"What people here are saying is, 'Stop interfering with our traditions, stop interfering with our faith and leave our country the way we knew it to be.'"

Among the "traditions and the way we know it to be," as my radio colleague put it, are the following reported by the Times:

• When Mrs. Dobrich heard the Rev. Fike's invocation, she said: "It was as if no matter how much hard work, no matter how good a person you are, the only way you'll ever be anything is through Jesus Christ," Mrs. Dobrich said. "He said those words, and I saw Sam's head snap and her start looking around, like, 'Where's my mom? Where's my mom?' And all I wanted to do was run up and take her in my arms."

• Mrs. Dobrich noted her son was ridiculed in school for wearing his yarmulke. She described a classmate of his drawing a picture of a pathway to heaven for everyone except "Alex the Jew."

• After receiving several threats, Mrs. Dobrich took her son to Wilmington and eventually sued that Georgetown school district. But the move to Wilmington, the Dobriches said, wrecked them financially, leading them to sell their house and their daughter to drop out of Columbia University.

Is there no Christian in the vicinity of Georgetown, Del., that shares my Christian faith that Jesus Our Lord is utterly appalled by what has been done to this Jewish family?

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