Coercive conversion by prayerful method

As an American Jew, I'm highly offended, and also worried, by the Pope's prayer to "enlighten" Jews by praying for us to accept Christ as the Savior.

Fortunately, prayers that are against the free will of others are doomed to failure, since our free will is a gift from God, so I'm not worried about its success.

The behavior of evangelicals reminds me of the religious version of the drunken buddy syndrome. "Hey, buddy, get drunk with me. If you do the same thing I'm doing, I can pretend I'm OK."

This was well stated in the poem, "The Pusher."

"Beware of the pusher, the missionary, the drug addict, all who believe they have found the sure route to Heaven. In the sound of their words, is the silence of their doubt. In trying to convince you, they try to convince themselves. The allegory of your conversion sustains them through their uncertainty…."

This is not surprising when you consider how many forced religious conversions there have been throughout human history. I wonder how many of those evangelicals are running from their own past, possibly containing Jewish ancestors, which they disguise to themselves as trying to convert others to the "correct" faith?

And why doesn't Pope Benedict want to "enlighten" Muslims in addition to Jews? Those who want to eradicate other religions through prayer have a similar goal as those who want to do it through violence. They just use a different means to get to the same end.

Diana L. Carter

Elgin