To the editor:

Just because something is consistently repeated does not mean it is right. There is nothing in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights amendment thereto that speaks of “the separation between Church and State.” Indeed many of the states in the Union did have state-endorsed religions after the ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Some ministers were even paid salaries by the state. This was considered to be a matter reserved to the states.

The part of the First Amendment that is notably not mentioned in these discussions is the phrase, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (i.e., of religion).” The Founding Fathers wrote many times expressing the importance of a belief system (you can read religion) for all citizens.

And contrary to Leonard Pitts’ assertion in the Sept. 7 column, the Ten Commandments are not a creation of the Christians. The Ten Commandments are in the Old Testament of the Bible. The founders of this country indeed relied on such foundation to build this country both in laws and beliefs. There is not sufficient space here to build the complete case, but I encourage all readers to look a little further in the history of the formation of this country. Some of what passes today as accepted wisdom just ain’t so.

There is indeed a movement, and has been for some time, to establish a state religion in this country. We are well on the path to establishing secular humanism as the state religion, and it does indeed impede on the free exercise of the religion of many peoples.

Mike Easterday,

Lawrence