Until I read Abraham Peck’s Aug. 28 Insight column, I never gave the exclusionary aspect of our country’s Judeo-Christian ethic a thought.

The following is part of a letter to me, from a young Muslim friend, returning a check that I sent him in appreciation of his generous labor, time and expense in helping me; he suggested I pass the check on to a charitable cause. He wrote:

“If I was generous, it was because the Creator gave me the means. And, if I spent my energy, it is because He gave me life and strength.

“And, if I acted rightly, with those blessings, it is because He blessed me with the mindset and inspiration of acting rightly in that moment or that day… These are God’s greatest attributes in Islam, as they are in Christianity and they are our only hope for peace.”

Without question, as Mr. Peck states, expanding the national vocabulary to the inclusive “Judeo-Christian-Islamic” is surely overdue. Is this the work of Congress?

I also appreciated Reza Jalali’s Aug. 27 Reflections column on the politics of division and intolerance. Are we indeed so removed from our Judeo-Christian-Islamic ethic of what is good and what is evil?

Jalali’s column should be compulsory reading for every American. It should be read aloud annually in Grades 7-12 so every student hears it at least once before graduation and chooses to know what “good” is and to do it. Our world’s greatest need presently is a major resurgence of goodness.

I want to thank columnists Reza Jalali and Abraham Peck.

Loretta MacKinnon

Yarmouth

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