DEAR EDITOR:

Last weekend another column was printed about Jesus and “His soul-saving deliverance, His unending love, His miraculous power to transform lives,” and calling for us to be more “Christ-like.” Meanwhile, as writer and political observer Mary Geddry puts it, each day as of late seems to “arrive carrying a flamethrower.” Global conflicts erase innocent lives and real estate off the face of the earth not to mention the desecration of the planet itself. Where is the deliverance, the love and the power?

While some would like to expunge the need for religion from human beings, I side with Thomas Jefferson who wrote: “But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

The dominant political establishment does not seriously question that American identity is spiritual in nature because to do so would be politically risky, even fatal, for a career in elective politics. But politicians seeking to exploit religiosity for their own advancement is just a bad idea, a concern our Founders had about converting the United States into a theocracy. As of late, it feels like we are experiencing a collective religious hangover and it has become nothing but grist for the mill of late-night comedy.

Our future is in our own hands. We need the power of self-determination, not crazy political posturing. As Geddry describes it, “A government updating the menu of acceptable ways to kill a person” both here and abroad. Again, where is the soul-saving deliverance and love from the purported religious holding high office, the supposed religion of peace that is hawking the same violence as the religion we are trying to tame.

And a case of note brought forth in last weekend’s Vindicator. In a letter to the editor titled ‘No substance from Sen. Bernie Moreno,’ the writer has received the same canned responses from this Senator as I have on several occasions recently. This hokum needs to stop. Let’s begin fixing it next month and in November and get the most successful form of government in history back on the rails. An easier task than wrestling our yards back into submission this soggy season.

KIM R. KOTHEIMER

Poland