One for Hux

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Hope you're holding up well. I saw this letter in the Globe today, and thought you'd enjoy (not like I entirely concur with what you can find in the Bible , but it is cute).

Liberals in the Bible

My thanks to John Barber for his article Hopeless in Toronto: Come On, Tories, Can't You At Least Try? (Dec. 10). I was interested in the question of whether a Conservative candidate used the Bible in his campaign.

I cannot find the word "conservative" in the Bible. The word "liberal" is used a few times and in a complimentary fashion. For example, in the Psalter Book of Common Prayer, 1962, Psalm 37, Verse 21: "The righteous are just and liberal." The sense of the word "liberal" here is "generous in giving."

The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 32, Verse 8 (King James Version) has this: "But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things he shall stand." In this verse, liberal means noble.

In Proverbs, "liberal" means prosperous, as in Chapter 12, Verse 25: "The liberal should shall be made fat" (King James). New New English Bible translates this verse: "A generous man grows fat and prosperous."

In the Bible, "liberals" are shown to be generous, noble, and prosperous. The conservatives are not mentioned. I think, therefore, we should be patient with the Conservative Party candidates who hold up their Bibles during the campaign. After all, they only want to be included.

REV. CANON THOMAS M. S. KINGSTON, Sutton West, Ont.