Great letter.

I'd like to say that the entire premise of the original protestant movement was that one needn't be a biblical scholar, or more particularly, a member of clergy, to qualify as an interpreter.

As such, I have very strong opinions that run full steam against most current denominational thinking.

If Jesus wanted Christianity to uphold the existing power structure (of any era) he would have been born a Roman and would have preached to Romans. Instead, he lived among and embraced the oppressed. Most modern Western denominations have abandoned that little bit of Biblical history.

Sadly, Methodists and Episcopalians (my denomination as a youth) are probably more forward thinking than most American-based clergies. That's a scary thought.

Western Christianity has veered completely away from Jesus's teachings. We don't need seminary degrees to see that.