Seriously. I'm in Hell. And I'm taking the best deal out.

An Open Letter to Reverend Axel Gehrmann

Mr. Gehrmann:

Thank you for taking time to telephone me on January 22, 2008 at 1:01pm CST.

In follow-up, I would like to reconfirm my response to your appalling suggestion that I refrain from using sign language during a worship service. I am deeply offended by your intolerance.

My religious training has lead me to expect cooperation from fellow seekers of spiritual guidance. I may be new to the UU approach, but I nevertheless expect you to respond appropriately to a communication mode that you are currently ignorant of. In the future, perhaps you will make a more concerted effort to fulfill your spiritual obligations, as well as to take your rhetoric into constructive directions, such as the uplifting of one as imprisoned as even I.

Respectfully, I again request the prayers of your congregation for me as I convalesce, and as I daily encounter abusive discrimination for using a guided sign language that illuminates and clarifies otherwise hobbled communications in spoken English.

I remain hopeful that this nation's religious leaders might expand their perceptions and exhibit a more flexible response to the unfamiliar.

Sincerely, a believer in Allah's almighty power,

La Pirata Socialista

*Cheers Warren!