Condemn all religious bigotry
In response to your article "Islamic center lessons" (Forum, Sept. 14): I was so happy to read Rebecca Blady's article. I wanted to share with the community that I joined with over 1,200 religious leaders in the greater Boston area in drafting a statement in support of the Muslim community and in opposition to the hatred of Muslims which is so prevalent. The statement can be found online. It was read at the State House in Boston in front of the statue of Mary Dyer, a Quaker woman hanged on the Boston Common for her religion. In the statement, we called to mind the many instances in the past where religious bigotry has reared its ugly head in our city-quotas for Jews at Ivy League colleges and the burning of a Catholic convent in the 1800s, to name a few. The statement's title is from the letter that George Washington sent to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., confirming that ours is "a Government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance." All are welcome to sign this statement online.
-Rev. Walter Cuenin
The writer is the Catholic chaplain and coordinator of the Interfaith Chaplaincy.Don't blindly support administration
In response to your editorial "Islamic center lessons" (Forum, Sept. 21): This is moronic. To say that increased need sensitivity in the admissions process is permissible because there was a degree of it in the past is a non-argument. You are identifying a trend and using it as an excuse.
Also, it would be better if this were saving the University money. If it indeed isn't, then we are discriminating against poorer students for no reason. Read the Union press release; you should know that the wealthier students are always going to be the ones with the stronger applications. If the Justice is going to get so much of the students' money, it should advocate for students, not arbitrarily support administration policies.
-Alex Norris '11
The writer is an associate justice of the Student Judiciary.

Peretz comments were out of line
In response to your editorial "Backlash against Peretz comments was both unfair and unwise" (Forum, Sept. 21): Peretz's comment makes just as little sense in context as out of context. "Muslim life is cheap," he says, "most notably to other Muslims." Replace "Muslim" with "Jewish," and the sheer idiocy of this reductive formulation is self-evident. Is Peretz typical of the Jewish community, or Yigal Amir or Bernard Madoff? This is not the first, and likely not the last, time that Peretz has written so callously about Muslims. We must conclude that Mr. Peretz's simplistic and inherently inferior opinion of Muslims are not a recent aberration.
-David Litvak '11