To the Editor:

Re “We Need a Religious Left” (Op-Ed, Nov. 22):

Bianca Vivion Brooks fears that without the scaffolding of organized religion, the Democrats will progressively lose ground to religion-fueled right-wing extremism. She apparently doesn’t see the irony of wanting to mimic “the growing ideology of right-wing extremism, an ideology that has always been heavily undergirded by its own religious dogma.”

Religious fervor is precisely the problem with right-wing extremism, not the solution. The divinely inspired, self-righteous, rigid intolerance of religious zealots forecloses open-mindedness, compromise and acceptance.

Pitting religious dogmas against one another would only further erode what remains of our democracy. What both major parties need to foster open-mindedness, compromise and tolerance is less religion, not more.

Michael J. DeLaurentis

Elkins Park, Pa.

To the Editor:

Certainly, Catholicism deserves a place in any discussion of the religious left.