To the editor:
I found Cher Griffin's letter to be both amusing and troubling. To throw all of the varied belief systems that make up the so-called "New Age Movement" into the same category and then attach the label "evil" to them is most unfair and disturbing.Many years ago, a new religion (or "belief system") appeared in America. This religion abandoned many of the cherished notions of the older faiths and replaced them with a novel and invigorating path to spiritual fulfillment. Thousands of people embraced this new faith, finding that it brought them much closer to God than their old ways.
But thousands more, having been told by their ministers that it was evil, or not bothering to look past the propaganda of this faith's enemies, decided that it was of the devil and did what they thought was necessary to drive this "evil" from among them. I am speaking of the Mormon faith.
Now the tables are turned. In this time and place, the Mormon faith counts itself among the old and respected standards, and the New Age movement is the young upstart that threatens to rock the boat. Will the people of Happy Valley repeat the errors made during the last century in Ohio, Missouri and elsewhere?
Or will they take the time and effort to look past the propaganda of the old guard and see the diverse elements of the New Age movement for the gentle and peaceable entities that they are?
The next time you run across a person, practice or philosophy that does not hold to the standards of your own religion, ask questions. Set aside for a moment any of the negative things that you may have heard and ask the person standing on the other side of the ideological fence to explain, in his or her own words, what his or her beliefs are and what they mean.
Seek to understand before you judge. I guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised.
For Cher, and the millions of people like her who have found happiness and fulfillment in the traditional Christian belief systems, I applaud you. I am happy for you and would never attempt to speak evil of you or your beliefs.
But please do not condemn those who have found the faiths of our fathers to offer mainly dogma, restriction and disillusionment. Allow us the freedom to pursue our non-traditional belief systems without having to fight the twin evils of prejudice and lack of understanding.
Andrew J. McGuire
Provo