Peace...

Warning: Some may call this political, but--maybe--it's a little common sense, too.

Like many other Americans, I am weary of the arguments about religion and government. This nation was founded by people fleeing persecution, seeking religious freedom, and our Constitution was written to ensure all the freedom to worship--or not--as they see fit. We are not a "Christian Nation," as so many want to say. We are a free people--free to choose our own paths without fear of persecution or ridicule.

Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State" (Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802).

I think, most of all, we are tired of the hate, the ridicule, the talking heads fanning the flames of the craziest of the zealots from both sides. What happened to civil discourse? What happened to reason and compassion? What happened to simple human courtesy?

What happened to the Constitution of the United States of America, which grants us the freedom to choose how, if, where, and how we worship...?

Live and let live. Let's get on with the business of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let's feed our hungry, heal our sick, house our homeless, and try to work together to make this a better world than it is today.

Peace to all, and happy reading.

~Deb, who now returns us to our regularly scheduled program