Letter to the Editor: A summary of ‘Cafeteria-style Christianity’

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, January 21, 2026

First I would like to give a big thanks to Stanley McKie, who also always delivers thought provoking contributions to these pages, for that ringing endorsement of my opinion of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), and then place my focus on Jon Buss, the poster boy for TDS if there ever was one (“TDS” better fits president’s supporters, not opponents,” published Jan. 7).

Jon, don’t be so hard on your hero, give him all A-pluses (“I rank Trump’s first year a success,” published Jan. 14)). After all, you have never let facts stand in the way of your opinions before now, why make this an exception? As usual you spout all of these terrible things that Biden did and all of the wonderful things you attribute to Trump, with, as usual, no factual evidence whatsoever.

That is the wonderful thing about beliefs, there is never any need for facts to back them up. Now that I have broached the subject of belief, someone praised Rich Elfers reference to Proverbs, and while I will admit there are many good life choices that the Bible recommends, I recently came across a term referring to Christianity that I just love and would like to share with you.

The term is “Cafeteria-style Christianity.” I couldn’t agree more with this term as every Christian I have ever known practices this form of religious belief, ie. taking from the Bible what they want and ignoring all the other passages that reek of moral turpitude.

Just to cite a couple of examples that you will never hear about in any sermon: God’s view on slavery, does he condemn it? On the contrary, he gives you a brief summary on how slaves should be treated, for example, if you beat your slave and he survives, then that’s OK; after conquering a community of non-believers, where his armies are instructed to kill every man, woman and child; If there is a woman that appeals to you, you should take her as your slave.

The passages that condone and even encourage killing, rape and slavery are far to numerous to list here but I have heard it said many times that the surest way to become an atheist is to read the Bible from cover to cover. I haven’t done that but I’ve seen enough quotes that no preacher talks about to absolutely agree with it. Just sayin.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw