Food for thought

Letter to the AJC editor:

Fear, not religion, motivates group

Those who would keep lungs breathing and hearts beating even in the absence of any semblance of personality or self-motivated activity hide behind religious language to conceal their fear of what ongoing life might lie beyond this one ("Final act in Schiavo drama?" Page One, March 18). We must conclude that those people who had been trying to keep Terry Schiavo's body ticking another day or year are motivated more by fear than by any spiritual conviction.

End-of-life decisions are best made by the next of kin in consultation with their physicans. "Next of kin" in this case means her husband, not her parents (whom, in accordance with Bible teaching, she left to marry Michael) and certainly not members of the executive and legislative bodies of Florida and the United States.

-The Rev. JIM RULE - Rule, of Atlanta, is a pastoral counselor in the Entheos Community.

Having never heard of the Entheos Community, I decided to do a little research. This is what I found:

ENTHEOS is a community of enthusiasts, scholars and scientists who share a common interest in the role of entheogens as it pertains to human spirituality. Recognizing the important role of the 'psychedelic' experience, both past and present, to the development of spiritual expression, we intend to publish the most accurate, relevant, and current research available on the subject.

The Journal ENTHEOS will provide a much-needed forum for specialists while encouraging a wide popular readership. It is our intention to provide a balanced and respectful perspective on this widely misunderstood and politically volatile subject.

It is also our intention to help remedy the lamentable under-representation of entheogenic phenomena in mainstream scholarship. Broad discussion of the role of entheogens in human history can only widen the scope of humanity's collective pursuit of understanding.

Though the journal will have a strong 'Wassonian' slant toward academic questions in anthropology, religious studies, art history, and history, ENTHEOS will include topics ranging from contemporary issues and current events to health and healing, the politics of entheogenic spirituality, discoveries in chemistry and biology, and the history of psychedelic scholarship.

Very interesting