I am compelled to respond to Niraj Bhatt '03's piece that appeared in the March 12 issue of the Prince Magazine. In six years of reading The Daily Princetonian, I do not believe I have come across anything as laden with unsupported assertions and polemic as Mr. Bhatt's article.
It is not self-evident to me why the proclamation of spiritual truths as believed by the Catholic Church is per se intolerant; yet Mr. Bhatt offers these entirely conclusive allegations without any support. Mr. Bhatt repeatedly brands as "intolerant" the various statements of Pope John Paul II proclaiming the truth as known to the Church.
I was not aware that in order to be "tolerant" one need deny the truth of one's own beliefs. Has it not occurred to Mr. Bhatt that the liberties we enjoy as Americans were once proclaimed by Jefferson as "self evident" truths? Or that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is exactly that — universal, notwithstanding that China or North Korea might disagree. Or does so-called tolerance and respect for other views require us to deny the truths we regard as self evident?
Not every religion holds, as Mr. Bhatt portrays Hinduism, that all beliefs are equally valid. Mr. Bhatt, out of respect for other points of view, should recognize that religions that differ from the Hindu perspective are also entitled to respect.
Instead, he labels as "intolerant" any religious perspective with which he disagrees. He fails to see the irony in proclaiming religious relativism and so-called tolerance when in fact his views show the least respect and the least tolerance of all.
If this article had been written with any level of thoughtful analysis, it might actually be insulting to the work of the late Mother Teresa and of the Church in India. As it is, we needn't go that far. Carlos M. Lazatin '99 Harvard Law School '03
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