Racist Email

I received the following email as a forward:
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CAIR Pressures OfficeMax to Stop AdvertisingOn Michael Savage Program
!! ACTION ALERT !!
Please Call OfficeMax As Soon As Possible
Dear Michael,
The brief story highlighted below reports that CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) has successfully pressured OfficeMax to drop its advertising on the Michael Savage radio program. And notice the story says OfficeMax has “joined a growing list of companies” with its decision to stop advertising.
OFFICEMAX DROPS MICHAEL SAVAGE ADS OVER ANTI-ISLAM BIAS (WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/15/2007) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that OfficeMax, a leading office products retailer, has joined a growing list of companies that have stopped advertising on Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program because of the host's anti-Muslim views.
CAIR recently reported that Savage, whose "The Savage Nation" airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text, during his October 29, 2007, program
The decision by OfficeMax was announced the same day the Los Angeles Police Department announced it was dropping its proposed anti-terrorism program due to pressure from groups like CAIR.
This is just another example of why it’s so important that we build ACT for America into the nation’s most formidable grassroots organization. Look what’s happening! A tiny, tiny percentage of Americans are represented by CAIR, but because companies like OfficeMax don’t hear from anyone else, they cave in to CAIR’s demands.
We need to let businesses and communities know that we have a voice that is much, much larger than CAIR’s.
Please ACT! today. Here’s all you need to do:
Call the OfficeMax office headquarters at 630.438.7800, press "0" when asked who you want to speak to, and when you get an operator, in a polite but firm manner, tell the operator you have heard about the company’s decision to stop advertising on the Michael Savage program because of the pressure from CAIR. Tell them you will no longer shop at OfficeMax until OfficeMax reverses this ill-advised decision.
If the 630-438-7800 number is busy, call the Customer Service line, 800-661-5931. It’s better to call the office line first, because if enough people call their phone lines will get clogged up and they’ll know right away that something is happening. Call the 800# only if you can’t get through on the 630.438.7800 line.
Some people ask about sending emails in a case like this. Phone calls are better. A barrage of phone calls will get immediate attention from the company.
Forward this email to everyone you know, with a short personal message asking them to place a call as well.
Next week, ACT for America will launch a petition that we will take to not only OfficeMax but other companies that have caved in to CAIR, as well as companies that CAIR is pressuring right now.
If CAIR can succeed in this effort to silence Michael Savage, consider the chilling effect this will have on every talk radio host in America. Enough is enough – let’s ACT now!
Brigitte Gabriel
ACT for America P.O. Box 6884 Virginia Beach, VA 23456 www.actforamerica.org
ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam.
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If you know anything about me, you would not be surprised that I replied:

I just want to make a quick statement against this email that was forwarded to us because I have found it extremely upsetting. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor and our enemy, even militant Islamists. But that is not even the point I want to emphasize here. Michael Savage has made broad sweeping statements about all Muslims which are untrue, disrespectful, unfair, and do not respect our religious freedom as stated in the constitution of this country. Yes there are Muslims who hate, who kill, who promote terrorism. But not all Muslims are like this. The Quran is a beautifully rich religious text and if you ever actually read it, you would realize that yes, it possible to read hate into it, but it is also possible to read love. It's just like the bible. Some people read hate into it, and use the bible for slavery and to kill people. But some people read love into it, and use the bible to love and care for all humanity. It's the same for all religions. To have one man, Mr. Savage, discriminate against all Muslims is wrong, and I for one am happy that so many companies have stopped advertising on his show. I urge you to not call Office Max to complain, but call them to congratulate them on stepping up for human rights and for trying to end discrimination and racism. It's great to see at least someone is acting Christian.

The Rebuttal

So apparently my letter to the editor WAS published in the Lowell Sun, back on 9/24/07.. and I didnt even know it! And today, there was a rebuttal published:


U.S. government founded on Christian principles
The Lowell Sun 11/0/07
I would very much appreciate an opportunity to respond to Jamie Green, the Harvard Divinity School student whose letter to The Sun, printed on Sept. 24, spelled out several of his reasons why "In God We Trust" should not appear on our coins or currency. He posed several.
First mentioned was religious freedom and our need to recognize that not all folks in America believe as we historically did and the vast majority do currently. Quite true and, in fact, some have no belief in a supreme being at all. That acknowledged, my response to this is twofold.
Our America was founded, for the most part, by ardent, hard-working Christians, and the government they subsequently founded was erected upon Christian principles. They were not unaware that other folks had other beliefs, or none at all. The nation they created welcomed all varieties of newcomers, the only caveat being that these new citizens recognize and honor the freedoms offered them. If you are invited into someone's home to live, you have no business attempting to rearrange the furniture. If you don't like it, move out.
As far as the coin motto is concerned, Mr. Green, upon close inspection, might note the touch of irony present and its sly implication that while holding a coin whose metal content has been debased, or a piece of paper which no longer may be exchanged for silver by the issuing government that there is a Christian God with whom one may place his complete faith if he so wishes: Hardly trivial.
Lastly, Mr. Green's reference to a number of Biblical references to money and their admonitions regarding its proper acquisition and disposal recalled to my mind the works of one of W. Somerset Maugham's characters who said, "Money is like a sixth sense, without which you cannot enjoy the other five." If it makes you feel good to give away your money, be my guest.
VERTON W. LENFEST
North Chelmsford


1) I am not a HE or a MR!!! Was this guy being sexist and assuming that because I go to Harvard and wrote this letter that I must be a man?

2) I am not planning on moving out of the country because I want to "rearrange the furniture." Sometimes it is time for change, and I believe that time is now. Things cannot continue to go on the way they've always been going or the way they are currently. It's time for a revolution! (but not a war!)

3) I do like the "irony" he touches upon, however, it would be sufficient to simply touch upon this irony in a discussion, sermon illustration, etc.... I do NOT think it is that a solid explanation as to why In God We Trust should be printed on money! Just because our fallen condition sort of resembles the declining worth in dollars? Just because God can redeem that which is fallen? This is hardly the reason why the motto is printed in money, and it is hardly the explanation people would connect the motto to.

4) My gut reaction was: Money IS NOT required to enjoy your five god given senses!!! You can be dirt poor, you can have given EVERYTHING away, and you can still SEE the beauty of God's creation, you can still TASTE the salt in the ocean, you can still TOUCH the smooth rocks, you can still SMELL the flowers, and you can still HEAR the birds. MONEY is NOT REQUIRED!!! And just because one guy said it, it doesnt mean that it is absolute capital T Truth. Shouldn't we take everything humans say with a grain of salt? And especially since this statement does not correspond with ANYTHING in the bible, I would like to join my brothers Amos, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and all my other favorite prophets of the OT, and call this guy a false prophet.

On second thought, I got inspired and did some quick research on the Maugham guy. He was a british novelist, playwright, short-story writer, and highest paid author in the world in the 1930s. Despite his popularity, Maugham did not gain serious recognition. So he writes fiction... yet Lenfest used his quote as truth. Ok, so then I looked up where the quote came from, it's from one his novels, "On Human Bondage." Here is the context of the quote in question:
Monsieur Foinet rolled himself a cigarette and lit it.
"You have very little private means?" he asked at last.
"Very little," answered Philip, with a sudden feeling of cold at his heart. "Not enough to live on."
"There is nothing so degrading as the constant anxiety about one's means of livelihood. I have nothing but con- tempt for the people who despise money. They are hypo- crites or fools. Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. With- out an adequate income half the possibilities of life are shut off. The only thing to be careful about is that you do not pay more than a shilling for the shilling you earn. You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It ex- poses you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer. It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work un- hampered, to be generous, frank, and independent. I pity with all my heart the artist, whether he writes or paints, who is entirely dependent for subsistence upon his art."

It is interesting viewing this quote in this way. Maugham more supports what I believe: that the world cannot function is there are some who have MUCH and some who have LITTLE. People deserve a fair wage, a decent standard of living. In this society, it means having money. But not a lot of money, just "enough" money. So if you happen to have MORE than enough money, you SHOULD give some away. So thank you Lenfest, for providing support for my own argument!

Ok that is all! ... for now :)