Voice: Logan Malcomnson, Burton

Upon reading “Without God there could be no American form of Government,” I was floored by the complete lack of factual information. You claim that Hitler was an “atheist-evolutionist,” even though he made his religious and anti-evolutionary views clear in speeches and in Mein Kampf, where he stated “And so I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.” Books that were to be burned include “All writings that ridicule, belittle or besmirch the Christian religion and its institution, faith in God, or other things that are holy to the healthy sentiments of the ‘Volk,’” Among those writers whose books were banned was Darwin. You need look no further than Nazi belt buckles, which read “Gott Mit Uns” meaning “God With Us.”

Your assessment of the meaning of the First Amendment was correct when you said that it was intended to prevent preferential treatment of one religion, but then you completely contradicted yourself by insinuating that a politician’s faith should come into play in government. Christians love to claim that the founders intended for America to be a Christian nation, when many of our most revered and influential early political leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin were deists.

Jefferson said, “Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, He must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” Franklin said, “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”