>>I don't understand why you personally take such offense to this, John.
Why do you assume I'm offended? I seek only to teach, not to offend or be offended, not to judge or be judged. Why are you offended when somebody else offers to teach?
>>I'm prepared to agree to disagree and leave it there.
As long as you get the last word?
My advice is that as each absentee visits and sees this thread, you can expect more expressions of dismay. You are not obliged to respond, since that seems opposite your stated desire to let it rest.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1