October 19, 2007

The Sacred and the Polite

To the Editor:

The overwhelming irony of Carlin Romano's "Are Sacred Texts Sacred? the Challenge for Atheists" (The Chronicle Review, September 21) is that it approbates polite lying about a topic of which Jesus, at least, said, "the truth shall make you free." And, of course, it is upon the truth of the Koran that Muslims since Mohammed have relied to justify the slaughter of infidels.

So it seems just a little pathetic for Romano to write: "We lie to people in small ways every