If not bigotry, then what?
To the Editor:

Your recent article by Shelem Flemons, "Alcoholic Beverages and the Bible..." was most interesting, especially his claim that, "This series of articles is not an attack against Catholics."

Then what, pray tell, would one call it?

If the author was simply interested in objective facts, rather than bigotry, why was it necessary to categorically couple ethnic origin with religion? These European immigrant groups at issue were not necessarily all Catholic. They were certainly primarily European. Let's be specific. They were German (Lutheran?), French (Huguenot?) et al. I believe there was probably also a sizable representation from the British Isles (Anglican? Presbyterian? Baptist?).

There is a very poignant song in the repertoire of the play "South Pacific." It contains the following phrases, "you have to be taught before it's too late, before you are six or seven or eight, to hate all the people your relatives hate..." With such writings, Shelem Flemons certainly is doing his part to see that this "family tradition" remains alive and well, and under the guise of being a Christian (But then Christians aren't perfect, are they? They are just forgiven!).

These mountains to my knowledge have been associated with certain Protestant groups and also with the production of moonshine. I was at one time in my life a practicing Protestant. believe me, Protestants and the production and copious consumption of moonshine and other such alcoholic beverages are not mutually exclusive! One vivid example is mentionable. Note the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee! According to the last information I had, Lynchburg is dry. They can make it and ship it all over the world. And they do! But they can't buy it at home. I dare say Lynchburg's Catholic population is very small(and does not own significant, if any, shares of stock in the distillery) and its Protestant population is very large. Does one detect bit of old fashioned hypocrisy?

While we are quoting history, the settlers of these mountains also came from European stock, didn't they? And they weren't until recent years when rocky, mountain land turned into gold, "contaminated" by Catholics, unless one accepts another historical fact. That is, that Mathew, Mark, Luke and John were indeed Catholic (if not so, then what other Christian religion existed in the time period between the crucifixion of Christ and fifteenth century A.D. when Protestantism was born and the writings of these Saints were "purified" to accommodate the reformers).

Richard Y. Fiser-Patriarch of a SOBER Catholic Family