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Sir: I claim the honor of being the first nonwhite South African Christian to be exiled by South Africa for daring to attempt to live a Christian life in an un-Christian country. My experience of living 15 months in Rhodesia testifies that Ian Smith's brand of apartheid is even worse than that practiced by the madmen who rule my country.
WILLIAM G. ALEXANDER Montreal
On Death
Sir: Thanks for the thoughtful Essay on death [Nov. 12]. Let me add that the Christian affirmation concerning life after death is that it is based not on a debatable theory or wistful hope of some innate immortality of man, but on the historic event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (THE REV.) DONALD M. HULTSTRAND St. Mark's Episcopal Church Canton, Ohio
Sir: I enjoyed your Essay. But the 19th century romantics fail as an example of "great death" since they were, in part, reveling in a philosophy as old as Isis, Ormazd and Ahriman, the Celtic druids, Gnosticism, etc. Present-day adherents write romantic love novels, visit psychiatrists regularly, or perhaps do both.
MICHAEL ROCHE New York City
Sir: Whether your Essay be the product of one writer, or of careful, thoughtful research and writing by several, it is without doubt a most provocatively brilliant contribution to modern man's thinking. JAMES C. McLEOD Dean of Students Northwestern University Evanston, Ill.
Viet Nam & the Vietniks
Sir: We pity the David Millers [Nov. 5] and the Norman Morrisons [Nov. 12] of this earth. Burdens perhaps were too heavy, too frightening, to be borne by these unfortunates. But there is little to be gained by burning a draft card or murdering oneself in public. One does not destroy a burden by refusing to carry it.
MR. & MRS. THOMAS H. MURPHY Tampa, Fla.
Sir: I took this photo while I was at Verdun 50 years ago. Your readers may be interested to compare it with your picture of the siege of Plei Me [Nov. 5].
E. C. PETITJEAN Pickering, Ont.
Sir: To destroy with deliberate premeditation any human life, one's own included, is in complete contradiction to the spirit and history of the Society of Friends. To think that by endangering the life of one's helpless little girl one could halt the burning of little girls elsewhere makes Friends shudder. And yet, something that Morrison did is totally and essentially Quakerly. That he felt a faith is a thing to be lived is precisely the message of Friends. Though I protest his method, I applaud his attempt to live his religion, not merely pass a college course in it. His was a faith, not a mere affiliation.
JAMES THOMPSON Iowa City, Iowa
The Vatican Council
Sir: About Marietta K. Meszaros' letter [Nov. 5] saying the Vatican Council's declaration on the Jews is "simple Christian charity": I do not now and never have felt guilty about the death of Christ. How utterly unfortunate it is that bigots like her have managed to perpetuate anti-Semitism for 2,000 years.
(MRS.) ROSILYN EISNER Maywood, NJ.
Appalachia