Julie McDonald-Smith is totally wrong in stating that “our founders were deeply religious men” (“An Independence Day gift from the pulpit,” The Right View, July 6).

John Adams said it this clearly: “The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Or this, from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Adams in April 1823: “The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. … But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with such artificial scaffolding.”

The word “God” is not mentioned in the Constitution, nor in the Declaration of Independence, where it specifically states that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Similarly, “God” is not mentioned in the Federalist Papers nor in the Articles of Confederation.

The Founding Fathers knew well the dangers of mixing politics (the State) and religion. We need only look at the Middle East to see what happens when they are not separate.

I suggest that McDonald-Smith study our sacred, secular documents before touting God and religion as central to our country. The religious right subverts both when they mix the two.

Barbara Doughty
Portland


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