LETTER: Religion not a part of state

Editor,

The Feb. 11 article by Mark LaRocco on the First Amendment was interesting, but it contained many statements that our nations’ founders would have disagreed with. Thomas Jefferson for instance, whose writings were the basis for the 1879 Supreme Court case Reynolds v. U.S., which stated “the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state,” joined James Madison in criticizing George Washington for merely mentioning religion in his speeches too often.

Madison, often called the “Father of the Constitution,” also opposed census takers asking citizens what their occupation was, because he knew that for many the answer would be clergy, and he believed the government is proscribed from the interfering, in any manner whatsoever, in matters respecting religion. Madison was even more of a radical for the separation of church and state than most modern activist groups.

So whether or not you agree with the First Amendment, it is clear that our founders would not have approved of the way government has crept into religion today, where people are forced to pay for religious monuments, where the treasury prints religious slogans on all our currency, where public land is used to house nativity scenes, where government teachers are required by law to lead children in a religious oath every morning, and the 21 percent of Americans who do not believe in God (source: The Harris Poll #59; Oct. 15, 2003) are treated like second-class citizens, forced to subsidize other peoples’

beliefs, under the leadership of a president who has said he doesn’t “know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots.” Thomas Jefferson, the non-Christian deist, would be spinning in his grave.

Adam Roberts