The Gospel According to Kass
The Judas gospel really vexed Kass. “This gospel apparently expiates Judas’ guilt,” he wrote. “He can’t be a betrayer if he and Jesus were allegedly in the conspiracy together. Although early Christian bishops ignored that book, it is being offered, again during the Easter season, as an archeological find, as a goad.”
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No doubter is thrilled by fresh evidence of a godless universe. And our meager whittling at belief pales against the lacerations from horrors and tragedies too many and familiar to list. But if Kass ever seeks doubters for serious study he can find them at faith’s back door, pondering these horrors in the hope that sin and evil are, perversely, evidence of God. For what doubters share with the people of faith they admire most is the understanding that only in the whittling is genuine belief formed, emerging in its sturdy elegance from a dense block of wood.
It occurred to reader Colleen Fleming that these two essays should be read in conjunction. “Forgive me if I can’t take seriously a newspaper that is so wrapped up in its Republican bias that it boasts that it hasn’t endorsed a Democratic candidate since 1872,” said her letter published on April 15. “With newspapers like the Tribune wearing their biases on their sleeves and largely ignoring other issues that are important to youth readership, it’s no wonder that younger generations look elsewhere for their information.”
Alongside the editorial was a cartoon. Six tombstones bore the names of the Willis children, and from one came word, “He’s guilty. Pass it on . . .”
“I have a message to get out,” said the president.
