http://members.aol.com/porchnus/memorial/constit1.htm

  To the Editor:

      I would like to respond to some of the statements quoted by religion editor Ray Waddle in his report on the recent Christian conservative rally in Memphis.

  or openers, the "Christian roots of this country" have about the same relevance to
  America and our Constitution as the Judaic roots of the Gospels have to the
  doctrines of Christianity. Indeed many of the European settlers who invaded this
  land and exterminated the natives called themselves Christians.

      Does that mean their descendants are necessarily genocidal murderers? Of course not.

      The founders of the United States were moral men who knew the sad and cruel history of European theocracies. These were countries where leaders lusted for privilege and aggrandizement behind the cloak of pious religiosity.

      The founders feared God, but they refused to make God responsible for the behavior of mankind.

      The Constitution they crafted with great deliberation is literally a godless document. Nowhere in the text are God and Christianity mentioned. Its language created an utterly secular state.

      Their goal was to free politics from the age-old linkage to religious intolerance, persecution and bloodshed. The Constitution was not meant to save souls, but to guarantee liberty.

      This writer is proud to be a member of Nashville's Interfaith Alliance.

Aaron Hiller
4625 Shys Hill Road 37215