Smashing Antiquities and Censoring Art

Re “Taliban Took an Ax to Antiquities,” Nov. 22: There is little for which the Taliban merits praise, even though we didn’t mind being in bed with it when it was fighting against the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, now, to be “shocked, shocked,” as is the tenor of your report on the destruction of antiquities, seems to reek somewhat of the pot calling the kettle black.

Let’s not forget that our fundamentalists, whether members of Congress, mayors, leaders of multimillion-dollar religious corporations or Supreme Court justices seeking to circumvent our constitutional rights of free speech, have parallel views. Thus, we have Sen. Jesse Helms et al. seeking to deny NEA funding for exhibiting Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs; New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani trying to cut off funding for a museum’s exhibit of a painting of the Madonna; justices deciding that certain images and words can be excluded from the media, though accessible throughout the Western world. Not to speak of our own history, wherein the newly arrived Europeans deemed the indigenous peoples’ beliefs evil and demanded they adopt Christianity. And finally, on Page A44, a British vicar has banned yoga classes in his church because it undermines the promoting of Jesus.

F. Daniel Gray

Los Angeles