To the Editor:

The news of the last couple of weeks brings into sharp focus the divided world we live in. No longer do we have a common language or ethic to guide our thoughts or actions in this complex world.

Let's take just one example of this disconnect — religious freedom. This country was founded on the principal of the freedom of religion. For some, it means that there should be no restriction on the practice of one's religion. For others it means that the state should not promote one religion over another. These, however, are not the same thing.

If there were no restriction on religious practice then the government could not ban animal sacrifice or slavery; the legal bondage of women; or laws against interracial marriage. At one time or another all of these ideas have been justified as deeply held religious beliefs. If the state had not acted to ban these practices, it is, in effect, promoting one person's religious beliefs over another.

If the laws of a society regarding religion are up for a vote then, for instance, the City of Detroit could pass a law requiring head scarves on all women, or the city of Boston could fund Catholic schools with tax dollars, or Amish communities could prohibit cars on their public roads, or Salt Lake City voters could say only Mormons could be city officials. Such laws would clearly favor one religion over another. The same can be said about a law allowing an elected county clerk to refuse to issue a marriage license to a gay couple because of the clerk's deeply held religious belief. 

Our founding fathers knew how destructive these kinds of religious laws could  be. Article VI, paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution states that, “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." It took many years for the removal of all state sponsored churches in these new United States. But the founders understood the tyranny of a state-sponsored religion. The excesses of religious intolerance in the colonies and Europe's endless religious wars were fresh in their minds. The Revolutionary War was fought, among other things, to separate the 13 colonies from the King George, and his state-sponsored Church of England. Apparently that fight is not quite over.

Louis Vitale

Franklin