Alan Yost, in his letter to the editor, writes that the United States "was most definitely founded upon religious principles" and that "the Bill Of Rights was written mainly about religion." The mental gymnastics required to come to that conclusion are beyond comprehension. I wish that those who believe that the United States is not secular would cease slandering the Founders with their viewpoint. The only motivation I can fathom for this perpetual strategy is to give would-be theocrats a veneer of respectability for their ideas that they do not deserve. A few quotes from the Founders illustrate that Mr. Yost's position is untenable. Thomas Paine, in "The Age of Reason" wrote: "Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity." Mr. Yost touts religious freedom, an idea with which I agree. However, he fails to realize that religious freedom, itself, is a secular idea based on the recognition that government should have no position on people's private religious belief (or lack thereof). It is only through our nations' secular underpinnings that religious freedom, that Mr. Yost espouses, is enshrined here.