Letter: Constitution guarantees freedom for all

Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | 8:50 a.m.

I am constantly thankful for the incredible intelligence and foresight of our Founding Fathers when they established the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I am also constantly amazed at the ignorance of my fellow Americans and how eager they often are to throw these freedoms away.

The separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of our republic (we do not live in a democracy, but in a republic.)

Schools are public institutions, so any prayer beyond a moment of silence is unconstitutional. Any pledge of allegiance that raises one religious belief over all others is unconstitutional. Requiring children to use the word God instead of Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, Siva, the Great Spirit, or nothing at all is unconstitutional.

In this great nation of ours we promise that people of any religious belief can live, work and worship free from interference by the government. How would you feel if you were required to kneel and face Mecca during a prayer, or were required to wear a yamalka, or to approach a statue of Buddha and leave an offering, or carry rosary beads, or bring prayer flags or wheels, or have all women in a separate room, or anyone of many different religious customs that may be different from your own?

The only way any of us can have freedom of religion is to allow all others to have theirs as well. This means we must keep any expression of religion out of public institutions. When one group tries to foist its beliefs on all of us, then none of us are free anymore.

F. ALAN FARRIS