Treasurer’s Views Are Worrisome

* While I’m certain that the congregation where Orange County Treasurer John M.W. Moorlach conducts his ministry is beaming with pride at the public declaration of his faith on your pages Dec. 19, Christians elsewhere may be cringing.

Moorlach finds it “amusing” that people worry about Christians, but I fear that his very conduct is leading to such worries, for it appears that his use of his Bible is very selective, guided by his own predispositions, selecting those passages that suit him and ignoring others less convenient.

Yes, this moral relativism is worrisome. He may rely on his Bible to provide valuable financial services to his followers and to conduct the county’s financial affairs, but it appears that he practices an Old Testament sensibility rather than the liberating teachings of Christ found in the New Testament.

Moorlach’s brand of Christianity and use of his Bible does indeed make Christians the “fair game” he lamented. This ilk of “fair game” Christian caters to followers, preaches to others in a shared work and social environment and regards with disdain those “politically inspired liberals” or those not in earshot.

I challenge Moorlach to return to his Bible and to shift his focus from counting references to money matters to those passages that guide one in living a Christ-like life. My Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ had no use for the self-righteous and that he valued most a life governed by the spirit of Christianity.

ROBERT D. BROWN

San Clemente

* John Moorlach says, “it’s OK to be a Christian.”

Of course it is. It’s also OK, in this country at least, to be a Jew, a Buddhist, a Muslim or a member of any other faith.

Moorlach, who identifies himself as a Christian, claims that “People get bent out of shape” and are “worried” about those of his faith. “They are the guys you want living next door to you,” he assures us.

What truly is worrisome is that if Moorlach believes Christians make the best neighbors, he might also believe they make the best employees. This is why laws regarding discrimination based on religious beliefs, gender and race--in both housing and the workplace--are in place.

Moorlach may consider this letter another case of Christian bashing. It is a strike, not against Christianity, but against any individual or group that favors the exclusion of those who do not share the same religious beliefs.

JESCINA A. TAYLOR

Irvine