At Least They Were From A Northern Culture

So there I was, proclaiming the letters of the anti-homosexual pro-Christian E&E correspondent to be dead, when three of them spring at me unexpected on yesterday's letter page. It was like a scene from a 90s thriller where you think the bad guy's dead, what with the two axes, three shotgun wounds and steam-iron applied to his face and all, before he jumps out at you from the bath water. Boo.

Anywho, to be honest, two of the letters are less attacks on the "homosexual lifestyle", but rather defending the bible against the amusing bashing that it's been given by numerous letter writers. As Pam Cousins sayz:

Quoting lifted verses to make points only displays to me ignorance and misuse of the text.

Or, don't quote the bad bits of the Bible, they're not meant to be taken literally, just quote the nice stuff.

Likewise, D Hayes, jumps to the Good Book's defence, with some beautiful lines, such as:

God can look after Himself and does not need me to defend Him or the Bible.

Yep, with all those locusts and frog storms at his finger tips, the big guy should have little problem sorting out a few heathens in Exeter. However, Hayes has to stick his oar in, if just a little bit...

I will merely say that an atheist cannot properly understand the truth and power of God's word because it is spiritually discerned.

The Bible is not an academic textbook and no amount of analysis or intellectual scrutiny will provide entrance to its eternal truths.

Other things that I have noticed that are best discerned spiritually are live TV poker, late night Hammer horrors and Arena nightclub, although the latter needs maybe too much spirit than is technically healthy (cue bad flashbacks...).

I can see what started as a bit of good ol' fashion homosexual discrimination could turn into a theological battle on the pages of the E&E - should be good.

Finally, and best of all, is a letter that starts by stating its support for Tweedy's anti-gay original. It then moves into quoting directly from an encyclopedia some "facts" about the history and "science" behind homosexuality (excuse the overt usage of quotation marks). This rambles on for 6 paragraphs, with no clear idea whether they're meant to support the author's sympathy for Claude or what.

If you make it through these, you are rewarded with two fine paragraphs:

We should all have compassion for homosexuals and other sexual deviants and society should help them, if possible, to behave normally.

But why are some people obsessed with sex? The world and life in general hold such a wealth of interesting and health-giving activities that we can, if we have the strength of character and will, break free from sexual bondage.

No point in commenting on helping sexual deviants behave normally - words escape. But what a great finishing line - is the author talking literally or what? Is it a cry for help from someone embroiled in Exeter's dark sexual underbelly? Who could come up with such a teasing closer to a letter that manages to bury its point under a column of unrelated drivel?

That's right - LT Sargent! Yay! After settling the argument on Cornish names or whatever, he's brought his irrelevant style to the anti-homosexual party. That has got to be a good thing.