Mike Ede’s letter of September 10, 1993 can be challenged on at least three points. First, Mr. Ede misunderstands what is meant by Mr. Kincaid’s claim that human beings are made in the likeness of God. Mr. Ede asserts that such a notion is absurd, as it would require us to believe that God is simultaneously black and white, male and female, and so on. But Mr. Kincaid’s letter said that humans are all made in the “spiritual” image and likeness of God. He is not suggesting, as Mr. Ede seems to think, that humans physically resemble God, but that they possess reason and free will.

Second, Mr. Ede’s letter is internally inconsistent. He earnestly decries racism and sexism; yet, by dogmatically insisting that “there is no purpose to life,” he denies the existence of any objective ground on which to condemn racism or sexism or anything else for that matter. In the absence of any purpose or aim of human life in light of which to orient ourselves, there is no basis for any rational moral judgments whatsoever. Mr. Ede hopes that we can still “try to lead a happy, fruitful life” in the face of life’s purposelessness. Yet his argument leaves us no objective basis on which to say that Abraham Lincoln’s life was any more happy or fruitful than Jeffrey Dahmer’s.

Finally, Mr. Ede’s attempt to associate sincere believers like Pat Robertson and Jesse Helms with Hitler is unfair and adds nothing to his argument.

Carson Halloway

John Stack

Rob Schebel

Graduate Students

Political Science