I was advised by Robert Zimmerle ("God Loves All People But Opposes Gay Life" Jan. 25) to "do my homework" and ascertain what the letter of the Bible states about homosexuality.

I followed his advice and found that homosexuality is indeed forbidden according to Leviticus 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Romans 1:26-27. It is interesting to note that Leviticus 20:13 states that homosexuals should be put to death. I also discovered that Christians can purchase inhabitants of neighboring countries and declare them slaves for life, and even will them to their children (Leviticus 25:44-46).

Christians also apparently "must" stone to death any who take the Lord's name in vain (Leviticus 24:10-16), and are forbidden to cut the hair at the sides of their head or clip their beard (Leviticus 19:27). We are also supposed to sacrifice a goat or lamb after touching an unclean animal (Leviticus 5:5-10). Upon further inspection, I found that the Lord condones selling one's daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7) and can purchase Hebrew slaves (Exodus 24:2). If I am to believe that "the clergy should be reserved for those who believe in all the teachings of the Bible," as Mr. Zimmerle opines, there are not nearly enough bearded, animal-sacrificing, murderous slave owners to head even the local churches.