To the editor:

What does separation of church and state mean? What aspects of our lives should it influence? The Ten Commandments can be found in government buildings while elsewhere, public schools forbid students to display any religious expression at all. President Bush feels same-sex marriages are sinful and therefore he should pass federal law forbidding it.

Leonard Pitts recently reminded us that we heterosexuals don’t really hold the institution of marriage all that high. The rate of divorce is almost 50 percent, and adultery is considered acceptable by much of society. How can we support a law that forbids a legal, responsible union and encourages intolerance? While knowing that the majority frowns upon such a union, couples who are willing to lovingly face the everyday challenges of life together should not be denied respect and advantages of a legal marriage.

The next time you are at the Farmers Market, enjoying a stroll downtown or attending church services, instead of acknowledging gay couples as “wrong” or “sinful,” try imagining them as your daughter, son, sister or brother. Would your view of them change?

To deny homosexuals the right to share the joys and sorrows of life with the person they love and to have that union legally sanctioned is wrong. Would you want that for your family member? Look into your own extended family; you might be surprised by what you find. Support should not be given for this or any other law that discriminates on the basis of an individual’s religious beliefs.

Doris Stine,

Lawrence