Ignorance, arrogance or both?

Rather than a serious statement of a political point of view, this bizarre Letter to the Editor (“Best candidates are Christians,” Aug. 23, 2018) is perhaps better thought of as an illustrative compendium of ignorant and arrogant blather.

While the writer certainly is not knowledgeable about the past and present roles of socialist policies in the nations of the world, evidently he also seems unfamiliar with both the range and character of nations which define themselves as particularly Christian. Among the nations reputably rated as among the 10 “happiest” in the world, according to the U.N.’s World Happiness Report, at least four have significant social democratic or socialist features. And among those nations rated as the 10 most “unhappy,” at least half are among those having the highest percentage of Christians. Neither of these facts proves anything other than that those two variables — Christian religiosity and socialist or social democratic ideology — have no causative connection.

Of course, Mr. Pauley might argue that those unhappy Christian nations are not “truly” Christian. Perhaps he would favor some kind of litmus test such as has been proposed in the past such as The Inquisition.

History suggests that what “works best ” are societies which successfully cooperate to meet the needs of the broadest range of their population.

Peter Grossman

Spokane