Professor Rene Pico's letter to the editor highlighting the numerous flaws that underly State Representative Daryl Metcalfe's recent comments regarding Christianity and Islam are instructive because Professor Pico shows just how baseless Metcalfe's assertions are. The fact that William Penn and the Founders were proponents of religious tolerance and secularism seems to be lost on Metcalfe--a troublesome flaw in an elected official. The beacon that the US symbolizes, as Professor Pico states, is being dimmed by the ignorance (or, even worse, the abject pandering) of Representative Metcalfe.

Laurie from Pittsburgh seems to subscribe to the same philosophy as Representative Metcalfe as evidenced by her assertion that the US was founded as a Christian nation. Interestingly, she also asserts that theocracy couldn't occur in the US because of constitutional checks that protect freedom of speech and religion from government intrusion--the exact principle that Metcalfe is trying to violate.

Tom from North Carolina, though he acknowledges the danger of elevating one religion over another, apparently laments the "banishment of Christianity from every area of public life." I think that allowing Christianity even the semblance of state sanction is the de facto elevation of this faith over competing faiths and atheism and is a dangerous sign. The government should not be inserted in any kind of theological debate as it must remain committed to neutrality in religious matters (irrespective of the personal faiths--or lack thereof--of the politicians involved).