He’s not old fashioned, he’s wrong

He’s not old fashioned, he’s wrong

In his July 14 column, “Per- ry’s day of prayer is intolerant,” Dick Polman states that due to being “old-fashioned” he holds “to the traditional American principle that politicians should refrain from promoting one particular set of religious beliefs.” If by that statement he has in mind Christianity, his traditionalism would indeed move him to the opposite action, if based upon historical fact. The historical record is replete with examples that demonstrate that from the beginnings of our nation through most of our history our leaders have appealed to and acknowledged publicly and officially the God of Christianity.

To bolster his position, Polman states that “James Madison, father of the Constitution, famously endorsed a ‘total separation of the church from the state,’ and that’s good enough for me.” As anyone knows who has performed the least bit of research, this phrase was coined by Thomas Jefferson in a letter (not even an official document) to the Danbury Baptists allaying their fears that a national church was to be established. Neither the words nor the idea appears in the U. S. Constitution. What is found in the First Amendment is a prohibition of Congress establishing a national church or of prohibiting the free exercise of religion by anyone. Whereas the prohibition to establishment does not apply to governors (or any other officials except Congress through legislation), the free exercise does.

James Madison did say: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization … upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” It sounds like Madison could have attended enthusiastically Perry’s prayer rally. I think that he might have brought along his friend Thomas Jefferson who said: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

If Mr. Polman doesn’t want to acknowledge the God of the Bible himself, he is welcome to do so; the Christian foundations of our country guarantee that right. But he shouldn’t try to cite our Founding Fathers as being in agreement with him. They were not.

William D. Henry, New Middletown