CULT HIT
Consider the source: To say I am disappointed about your misleading article ("Loving Cult," Stephen Lemons, June 2) would be an understatement.
If you can live with your conscience writing disparaging lies and publishing this kind of rubbish, then I have nothing left to say, except I have lost respect for your journalistic integrity.
Nevertheless, I wish [the author] well on [his] veg endeavors — for the animals, [his] own health, and, ultimately, our shared planet.
Kris Greene, Supreme Master Television
Lia's saving the planet: As Green restaurant's owner [Damon Brasch] says in your story, the National Football League is just as much a cult as "Supreme Master" Ching Hai's bunch. Plus, as another source says in the article, this is a cult we can all live with.
Cult or not, what exactly is bad about teaching that vegetarianism is good for the human body and for our planet? These are just facts.
The rest of what Ching Hai says is not as offensive as some of what is preached in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions. If all I have to do is "go green" to be sanctified by Hai's church, then I'm there.
I'm cabbing it to the Prius dealership now, after which I will drive over to the Loving Hut in Glendale for a sumptuous meal of tofu and soy products [masquerading] as meat. Yeah!
Lia Fleming, Tempe
Not yet anyway: Okay, this woman Ching Hai is a fucking nut-job. But who cares? I love the fare that Loving Hut serves. If her chefs could cook for me [all the time], I could give up meat.
And I know that if I did give up meat, I would be healthier — not to mention all the other benefits to the Earth that Stephen Lemons' story throws out there.
I'm not even sure why Lemons needed to go into the cult [claims], which seem pretty farfetched. It's not like Hai is asking her followers to drink poison Kool-Aid.
Jon Olive, Phoenix
Cult of football: The NFL does have a cult following, at least as that word is defined in Webster's:
"a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially: such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad,
b: the object of such devotion,
c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion."
We should examine each cult by its merits and avoid blanket statements. I don't have an opinion on this one, but I've got a lot of information to consider.
Interesting read. Even with the slow start, I like your depth. You can't find reporting like this in the other Arizona outlets.
Kit Carson, Phoenix
Glad to help, Tim: I read your article and hightailed it over to the Loving Hut in Central Phoenix. Because what you wrote spoke to me.
I have high blood pressure and other maladies, and my doctor suggests that I go to a vegan diet to control it all.
When you described fake meat dishes that really taste like the real thing, I knew I had to try them.
I found both the faux fried shrimp and the faux Mongolian beef just as you said: Delicious, and if I hadn't known that what was put before me wasn't meat, I would've been fooled.
You may have saved my life!
Tim Carpenter, Phoenix
In defense of Loving Hut: I have visited many Loving Huts in my business travels and have not once been asked to join the group, or so-called cult.
Name withheld
