In a letter to the Editor, James Sanoski claims that America is a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. This changes our secular democracy to a theocracy ruled by religious dogma in the manner of Iran, ISIS, and the feudal states of medieval Europe. I, an American of the Jewish faith, and anyone having a faith other than the Christian faith or having no faith at all, would never have full rights of citizenship. Clearly this situation would be un-American.

Our Founders were educated men who were profoundly influenced by the European Enlightenment and the classic liberalism of England’s John Locke and Scotland’s David Hume. They believed that religion was a private matter, that the government had no business meddling in anyone’s religious affairs. Many of the earliest settlers of the New World were fleeing religious persecution or the stifling effect of supporting a government that subsidized a religion to which they did not adhere. The Founders established our Nation as one that depended on a well educated citizenry, free of state intervention in their private lives, to build and sustain a just and democratic society. It was to be a lamp to illuminate and inspire the whole world.

Our Constitution, the primary reference, does not invoke or mention God. To the contrary, Article VI at Clause 3 states that members of Congress and the State Legislatures shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support the Constitution. The Founders recognized that a citizen might not in good conscience swear an oath, and that an affirmation would be just as good. The wording of Article VI Clause 3 is clear: “…no religious test shall be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States”. The wording of our Bill of Rights in the First Amendment to the Constitution is clear: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ”. This does not mean that the Constitution is against religion; only that the government shall not play a role in religion, that role being left to the conscience of free citizens.

Prominent among the Founders were John Hancock, John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Washington, and James Madison. These men, coming from different denominations, nevertheless shared a belief in a Supreme Being as Creator of the universe, whose nature could be discerned by reason without the need for revelation. They understood that different people might reach different conclusions, and they respected those differences. They further understood that if the new government were to favor any religion, then by definition that government must look with less favor, or even hostility, on any other religion. In this context they gave us a Constitution that removed the government from religious matters.

If the Constitution permitted government support of a national religion, then we must ask: “Whose religion?” Would the answer depend on a majority vote? At present, perhaps eighty percent of our citizens follow one denomination or another of the Christian faith. If put to a vote, would that eighty percent make the Roman Catholic Church or any other Christian denomination our official religion? If in another two hundred years our Country should have a majority of Moslems or Hindus, should a new election be made to determine a newofficial religion?

Our Country’s strength depends on the dedication of our people to the ideals of America. We have tried to do right because it is right; not because it is mandated by religious teaching. I hope that we will continue to preserve religion in the domain of our conscience and keep ourselves free of government interference in our privately held beliefs.

Dan Harris
Brunswick