Letter: Religion sprinkled throughout history

Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005 | 7:15 a.m.

In a Nov. 23 letter to the editor, "Freedom and religion don't mix," Nadia Romeo comments that "Our Founding Fathers understood this and mostly rejected the Christian faith" and further that President John Adams stated "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

I wish to point out the following:

From John Adams' inaugural address in Philadelphia on March 4, 1797 ... "And may that being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence." In further addresses to the Senate ... he states "in a humble reliance on Divine Providence we may rest assured..."

Although the word God does not appear in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, if one goes back a bit further into the past, in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, God is mentioned several times as "Nature's God ... Creator ... and with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence." The declaration was signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the declaration in his own handwriting.

Further the First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" but it does not stop there. The First Amendment actually continues on "... or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

John L. Sarna

Las Vegas