Letters to the Editor: Secularism protects Christians' religious freedom too

To the editor: It's astounding that certain Christians’ tunnel vision blinds them to the world's reality. One letter writer blamed disparate problems on our "secular-driven government" forcing its values on us.

A founding principle of our government was that it should not favor any religion, which would enable each citizen to cling to and practice his or her particular beliefs. If government treated each belief, religious and nonreligious alike, with equal respect, that would help create a society where each belief would be unimpeded by the "bullying, shaming, intimidation, hostility and vitriol" that the letter writer cites.

Unfortunately, this founding principle has been abandoned by our shamelessly Christian Supreme Court, the consequence of which has been constant bullying, shaming and intimidation of all beliefs that are not Christian.

Secularism is not the villain, it's the cure.

Ray McKown, Torrance

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To the editor: Where was the letter writer prior to the 35 years he says he spent outside the U.S.?

Surely not in the America, with its history of stolen land and slavery at its birth, Jim Crow a little later and the more recent blatant abuse of African Americans that remained hidden until the murder of George Floyd.

There have been many honorable people doing their share to right the wrongs of their fellow citizens. But to put the past of the nation on a pedestal as if it were a desirable quality, fit for all to emulate, is to see our past through rose-colored glasses.

A little humility would be nice.

Sathi Nair, Fullerton

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.