LETTERS: KEEP RELIGION OUT OF NATIONAL POLITICS

To the editor:

I am concerned about the affirmation of social gospel, which is being pushed on Americans in the name of Christ and good. This election year has spurred religion as part of politics. In article and editorial one after another, individuals are praising the fact that our government officials are finally going to join with the religious leaders in this country to "solve our nation's problems." Texas Gov. George W. Bush's nearly $500,000 in state-financed grants to Christian groups in Texas is being hailed as "compassionate conservatism."

I would like to remind people that states receive their funds by taxing individual wage earners. These funds are not voluntarily given. They are collected forcibly under the threat of breaking the law if you don't pay your fair share. If a thief stole money from you and told you that he was giving the money to a local church, you would still consider him a thief, and you would expect him to be criminally prosecuted for the robbery. However, the state can take your money and distribute it to whomever it pleases whether you agree with the doctrines or how the money is used, and you have no legal recourse to reclaim your property.

When politicians decide what is moral, who should benefit and who should pay, the decisions may be in direct conflict with an individual's beliefs. However, we are told that government and politicians cannot be held to the same moral code and laws as individual citizens. We are also told that the state is in a position to decide what is best morally, religiously and economically for the rest of us.

Individuals who wanted to get away from state-run religion and the intrusion into individual beliefs started the American colonies. They had some very good reasons for wanting a country with separation of church and state.

The Spanish Inquisition (from 1478 until its abolishment in 1834) was sanctioned by many governments and rulers. It was thought that society could benefit from purging heretics, witches, diviners, blasphemers and other sacrilegious persons from its midst. Religion sanctioned the divine right of kings that did not hold government officials to the same standards as the people they governed, allowed individuals to be exploited in order to provide for the so-called supreme beings who ruled them. The sanctioned religion and political power in control of the colonists' home countries persecuted individuals who dared to disagree with the state religion, dogma and doctrine.

Politicians would do well to take care of their own religious needs and to spend their own money in whatever manner they choose. Let the rest of us do the same. Religion and charity are an individual decision, commitment and responsibility and cannot be decreed nor deferred. We don't need the government deciding our commitments or our morals, and I believe it is a sin to allow it.

MARY NALL

Marble Hill