Debate over a Christian nation has to do with civil rights

In his recent letter to the Sun Dave Harris mischaracterizes Ed Palm’s column regarding the potential suppression of freedom in America by forced religion. Palm’s thesis isn’t about “Christian freedom” but about the danger to the civil rights of non-Christians.Many of Mr. Harris’ faith believe America is a Christian nation and that governmental power should be used to legally elevate Christianity to the status of a national religion – and forcibly subjugate non-Christian beliefs.This danger is richly illustrated by the abortion debate, which is driven by the uniquely Christian tenet that life begins at conception and abortion is therefore murder. This belief is shared by no other religion in the world – not Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or other faiths practiced by millions of Americans.The imposition of this doctrine is creating a potential dystopian nightmare in many states – government-forced childbirth, government forcing child victims of rape/incest to carry pregnancies to term, government requiring women and their physicians to prove in court that miscarriages or even lifesaving medical procedures were not chosen abortions. Christian legislators are quite literally proposing the death penalty for women having abortions and doctors performing them – lethal injection for practicing their own religious or secular beliefs in violation of Christianity-based laws.This may be Mr. Harris’ definition of freedom, but to most Americans it represents something horrifyingly different.

Mike Gaynes, Bremerton

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Debate over a Christian nation has to do with civil rights