HomeMy WebLinkAbout01 06 1989 Kashi Church Rejects ChargesFriday, January 6, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla., Press -Journal
LettersTo e
courtesy, good will and reason.
Kashi Church
Thomas Byrom
Rejects Charges Roseland
Editor, Press -Journal:
Last week you reported the opin-
ions of Steven Johnson (Sebastian
Aero Services) concerning Kashi
Church.
Johnson describes us as "an ex-
tremely wealthy cult" conspiring
to close down Sebastian airport for
"tremendous financial gain" —
though he admits this is "only a
guess."
This is religious McCarthyism,
pure and simple.
Our church is not a cult. We
aren't wealthy. And we are not
conspiring to close the airport.
Kashi is an ecumenical religious
foundation with a school, a service
branch and a retreat devoted to
contemplation. We're a mixture of
Catholics, Methodists, Episco-
palians (and so on), all sharing a
devotion to other faiths, among
them Judaism, Hinduism and Bud-
dhism.
As foundation chairman I am
proud of the religious tolerance we
practice and encourage. I am an
Anglican, confirmed in the Church
of England — which is not, I be-
lieve, a cult. No more is Vajrayana
or Hinayana Buddhism, Vedanta or
any of the other traditional beliefs.
which I taught for some years as a
professor at Oxford.
Nor is Kashi Church a cult. Only
prejudice or ignorance could say
so. Our beliefs are deeply held and
wholly traditional.
Johnson doubtless senses how
strongly opinion runs against a
busier airport and he fears for his
livelihood. No one in our church
wants to see him lose it.
As a church we take no stand on
the airport or any political matter,
and we strongly discourge all pros-
elytizing, religious or political.
Surely, Mr. Johnson doesn't need
a scapegoat or silly conspiracy the-
ories about cults to explain why
more than 2,000 of his neighbors
voted last March against a busier
airport.
It's simple — planes and homes
don't mix. They never have, they
never will.
It is my prayer that public debate
about the airport. proceed with