University of Virginia Library

Reply To Snyder

This is intended as a reply to the
letter of Mr. Richard Snyder (10
December) who, in commending
the recent efforts of the Mary
Washington Bullet, extols the SDS
as the "true saints of today" and
declares himself "proud to be a
Christian and a member of the
SDS."

Should Mr. Snyder peruse the
preaching and deeds of Jesus, as
recorded in the synoptic gospels, he
will find that the ethical ideals and
norms he has arrogated to warrant
his leftist position are like the
proverbial two-edged sword. If, on
the one hand there is repudiation of
moral atrophy in the status quo, in
the name of God's love for all men,
there is also profound emphasis on
the ambiguity before God of every
aspect of human endeavor, including,
especially, organized religion.
The point is that those who
would emulate Jesus must be skeptical
of any human claims to speak
authoritatively and definitively for
that which Jesus called "his
heavenly Father."

It is clear that Mr. Snyder's
idolatrous, self-righteous claims for
the sanctity of the SDS and for his
own affiliation with it, are at least
as reprehensible, from the point of
view of Christian ethics, as the
pharisaic legalism which Jesus rebuked,
or the use of ecclesiastical
position and power to reinforce the
values, attitudes, and practices of
the status quo, instead of challenging
them in the name of a love
too big to find authentic expression
in individuals, groups, and institutions.