If one were to follow the logic of Janet Lukac's Oct. 4 letter ("Stand Up for Beliefs"), then one would be led to believe that the First Amendment gives all Americans the right to be forced to practice Christianity. As an atheist I wholeheartedly disagree.
I respect Ms. Lukac's right to practice her religion but resent her insistence that religion is the basis of our American way of life. The separation of church and state decrees that the government cannot help or hinder organized religion. Our founding principles were drafted by religious men, but that does not mean that they intended god to be present in all actions of the government.
By the way, did Ms. Lukac know that the Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892, more than 100 years after the founding of the country and that "under God" was shoehorned in in 1954 during a period of heavy religious conservatism?
I wonder what scares the faithful so much. Are the police going around confiscating crucifixes? Did the Bible get put on the banned books list? No. The liberals want to give citizens of our country the basic human right of marrying the person they love and want a woman's decisions concerning her body to be her own, and followers of religion perceive that they are being persecuted. Wake up and join the 21st century!