Jacquelyne Froeber’s column on faith (“Religion, faith is what you make of it,” SN 5/22) struck me as a bit naive. Her assertions that “faith should be something you feel in your heart,” and “people need to believe in something,” suggests that believing in any old thing, however unrelated it may be to rational thought, is desirable. In fact, her column concludes by suggesting that the “beauty of faith” is that you can choose to believe pretty much anything, and that it’s OK.

I think it would be important to remember that the suicide bombers that have become such a regular part of modern times, not to mention the Sept. 11 terrorists, were highly motivated by their faiths (perhaps that’s why we don’t see too many atheists and agnostics strapping bombs to their backs). Furthermore, the terrorists’ faith in a God that will reward their attacks on innocent civilians is just as valid as Froeber’s professed belief in karma.

It seems to me that the world just might be a better place if there was less blind faith and more reasoned opinion.

John Bice
1988 MSU graduate