Letter: Column about nationalism missed the mark badly

Allen Johnson’s May 1 column, “Nationalism is the final idolatry,” missed the mark badly. Narcissism is the final idolatry; the misguided form of nationalism that he describes is merely one form and not the most potent either.

He further errs in suggesting that religion is responsible for repression of people when it is power-driven people who cloak themselves in religion as Adolf Hitler did. In fact religion is one of the main ways that people learn to look beyond themselves and see other people in the divine image as John Donne did.

A while ago, Mr. Johnson wrote a column about his health problems with which I sympathize. He described a number of things that he was doing to cope, but I didn’t see any mention of how he was using his remaining time on Earth to help other people. I would suggest that if Mr. Johnson wants to find his own idol, he merely needs to look in the mirror and find the narcissist staring him down.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Letter: Column about nationalism missed the mark badly."