Sir, - St Paul is as notorious for his diatribes as he is for his occasional tolerance (of slavery, for example). Even so, the quotation used by Rory O'Hanlon (March 16th) to justify the killing of gays and lesbians was rather a surprise: why had we not been beaten by this one before? It turns out, of course, that Mr O'Hanlon has the same creative flair with scripture as he does with mantillas.
He makes the phrase "deserve to die" apply solely to lesbians and gays. In the actual epistle, death is also deserved by the greedy, the envious, the disputers, the malevolent, the spiteful, by the rude, arrogant, and boastful, by murderers, libellers, and slanderers, by people who don't listen to their parents, and by all those without brains, or honour, or love, or pity. In other words, by virtually the entire population of imperial Rome (or millennial Dublin). It is clear that the small band of Christians in Rome were being told that their neighbours were dead to the eyes of the new God, not that they should rush out and slaughter the lot of them.
The Epistle to the Romans is cruel and chilling (Paul even apologises for "putting things rather strongly"), but it is at least coherent. As edited by Mr O'Hanlon, it becomes barbaric nonsense. Mangling scripture to justify murder might be thought unChristian, but more to the point, and in the context of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, it should be regarded as criminal. - Yours, etc., Christopher Robson,
Chelmsford Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.