While devoting only one sentence in recognition of the church community in Charleston and its power of forgiveness (“Amazing grace” July 1) writers Georgiann and David Kerr then politicize the situation with the obvious objective to further the progressive agenda.

With their unrestrained praise for the current president, the writers chose to ignore Democratic former President Jimmie Carter, who astutely stated that there are no countries with which the United States has a better relationship today versus the relationships existent when Obama took office.

Domestically, their emphasis turned to same-sex marriage as a proud expansion of civil liberty which should remind any voter, regardless of party, of the Democratic Party behavior relative to admitting God into their last convention. Concerning the magnitude of this so-called civil liberty expansion, current polls indicate less than 3 percent of the population is homosexual with estimates of gay marriage impacting less than 1 percent.

Presenting the “Affordable” Care Act as a positive certainly requires audacity when the promised $2,500 savings is now a $3,000 to $4,000 increase in insurance costs. The recent statements by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber are ignored including his despicable statement about the stupidity of the American voter being necessary to force the bill through Congress. “They proposed it and that passed, because the American people are too stupid to understand the difference,” he said.

Nancy Pelosi’s only added to this type of corrupt behavior when she stated: “We will have to pass the bill so we can see what is in it.” That this type of activity is lauded by some parts of the American population is very ominous and troublesome. Even worse, the most negative aspects of the bill involving the mandates are looming in 2016 after having been postponed by Obama to shield voters from the negative impact.

The implication that “the” United States was not recognized until after the Civil War is absolutely and totally false. In fact, the most important objectives of Lincoln, which were also his greatest accomplishments, were to preserve the United States as one nation while destroying slavery never to return to our shores.

Politicizing the tragic South Carolina event is worse than inappropriate. The conduct of the church and the community stand as a proud example of how the people of an indivisible nation under God would perform under even the most severe adverse conditions. Wrapping partisan politics around tragic events will never lead to greater unity and should be avoided if achieving unity is the ultimate objective.