LETTERS: WHAT ABOUT OTHER MENTIONS OF GOD?

To the editor:

In the Jan. 2 issue of the Southeast Missourian, a letter appeared on the Opinion page written by Donn S. Miller of Tamms, Ill. He said that the Ohio state motto is "With God, all things are possible" and that the American Civil Liberties Union is making an effort to retire this motto. He hopes the ACLU will succeed.

In the same letter, Mr. Miller states he has a problem with the term "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. We conclude he wants the term expunged from the pledge.

From this, it follows that he might have trouble with other particulars, like the imprint on our coins, "In God we trust." Should this be deleted? And there is the inscription on the Liberty Bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," a quote from the Bible (Leviticus 25:10). Should this be filed down or somehow obliterated? In a federal building on 12th Street in St. Louis, the visitor will see a niche in the wall of the street-level floor in which the 10 Commandments are carved in stone with a light shining on this artwork. Should this be plugged with concrete?

Anyone bothered on this premise has the option of emigrating to a country of which Rudyard Kipling said, "There are no 10 Commandments."

Under the caption, "Even atheists benefit from Christian values," Paul Craig Roberts, columnist for Creators Syndicate, concluded his recent article: "Christianity's emphasis on the worth of the individual makes such power as Lenin claimed unthinkable. Be we religious or be we not, our celebration of Christ's birthday celebrates a religion that made us masters of our soul" -- in my opinion, an overstatement -- "and our political life on Earth. Such a religion is worth holding on to, even by atheists."

The REV. WALTER J. KEISKER

Cape Girardeau