Letter: Out, out and away

We often hear that the freedoms we enjoy are “God-given rights,” but it wasn’t the clergy who wrote the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. Nor was it the prophets who gave us democracy. These ideas came from the secular.

The Christian Church had known for centuries about Greek democracy but did nothing to advance the rights of man during the reign of the European monarchs. Quite the contrary, it formed dual dictatorships with the monarchs in order to maintain absolute rule over its people. Throughout the centuries the clergy never interpreted the Bible as providing for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or the right to assemble.

The faithful often put their religion above the Constitution. If you had to make a decision to live under one or the other, which would you choose? Would you give up all your civil rights under the Constitution? Would you put the safety of your family into the hands of a biblical autocracy ruled by the pope, Osama bin Laden, Pat Robertson or other spokesman of God?

I have no problem with “In God We Trust” and other historical mentions of God. However, religion itself gives no guarantee of earthly “due process.” Because of this, I feel we would all be a lot safer if we kept religion out of government and, in all fairness, government out of religion.

Tom Napolitano/Naples and Nanuet, N.Y.