To the editor:

Regarding the recent letter from Robert Ramsdell entitled “Bible on war” (Public Forum, March 20), I must admit utter astonishment over Mr. Ramsdell’s semantic whitewashing relative to the words “murder” and “kill.” The fact that he takes issue with the translation of the Hebrew word “ratsach” tells me he is using language, specifically the language of the Bible, to justify war. This is nothing more than tinkering with words which some consider sacred to justify the commission of hate speech and hate crimes.

Mr. Ramsdell’s line of reasoning is laughable at best and exceedingly dangerous at worst. It leads to the dehumanization of target populations and their concomitant deaths in wars that are perpetrated by good Christian people or those of other religions who believe that their sacred scriptures give them license to destroy indigenous populations, along with the infrastructures necessary to their living, while leaving behind pollution from the use of depleted uranium bombs and other atrocious weapons that ensure the sickness and death of many more people for generations to come.

This insane line of thinking is killing us, for what we do to others, we do to ourselves. Isn’t it time that we bring our troops home from the war zones and all of the other countries where we maintain military bases, countries that don’t want us there, and start engaging in cooperative mutually beneficial relations with our fellow planetary citizens?