Madam, – While we must uphold the right of every person and minority group to express their opinions in the form of protests, the messages they portray should not be offensive to others.
Kathy Sheridan (Weekend Review, July 10th) reports on a message on a placard held by the Burke family from Mayo in opposition to the Civil Partnership Bill which caused some consternation to passersby outside the Dáil. The placard quoted from the Book of Leviticus which stated that “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination”.
Any historical-based exegesis of this quote, as with so many other passages in the Book of Leviticus must be taken with a grain of salt as the book also declares the eating of shellfish as an abomination and for people who curse and blaspheme to be stoned to death by the community.
To accept these historical-based Biblical declarations as the will of God for our world of today is stretching credulity to the limit. – Yours, etc,