Letter published in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution on November 23, 2001 (actually only the last paragraph was published, and indeed even there the middle sentence was omitted).

There is something in our pursuit of "true happiness" which often reaches out beyond the grave to a heaven and hell.

Now this might not be bad if we knew in advance that all actions needful to arrive in that heaven had to comply with something like the Golden Rule. But if we found that actions in violation of such a rule might be required instead, then we may be in for trouble. For who can really blame a man for obeying his God, even if that man is insane?

One small step toward providing a better moral gyroscope for our world is for us to refuse to recognize as a religion any belief in divine commands which violate a golden rule. Such a group should rather be called a cult. While a soldier or a policeman will find it occasionally necessary to kill someone, only a cult can believe that such destruction can delight God.

--
Philip McPherson Rudisill