Church, state and marriage

Re “Prayer’s place,” editorial, Dec. 21

Your editorial claims to support separation of church and state, but your stated position is contrary to the principle.

To argue that the wall of separation is “porous enough” to allow any branch of government to declare a day of prayer is to promote an exception that swallows the entire rule. For a governor to declare such a day is for the state to officially endorse prayer.

This is not a neutral act. It’s one thing for elected public officials to declare personal faith. It’s quite another to issue formal prayer-endorsing proclamations on behalf of government -- in this case, the state of Colorado.

It sends a message that nonbelievers are lesser in the eyes of the political community than those who believe in a supernatural being.

Religious people in this country can pray whenever they want. They don’t need government proclamations to worship.

Edward Tabash

Beverly Hills

The writer is the head of the national legal committee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Your newspaper editorialized that “Focus on the Family is unquestionably a pillar of the intolerant right; witness Dobson’s hysterical opposition to same-sex marriage.”

Our view is simply that every child ought to have a chance at a mom and a dad. This is nothing more than the settled wisdom of Western civilization. For government intentionally to create motherless or fatherless families is a dangerous experiment in social re-engineering.

We are not alone in our thinking. A growing majority of states, 30 and counting, have now written the traditional definition of marriage into their state constitutions. If we are intolerant, then so is a clear majority of the country.

Were The Times itself not so intolerant of the will of the people, it would recognize the marriage movement for what it is -- hardly “hysterical,” but rather the greatest groundswell of public opinion of our era.

Tom Minnery

Colorado Springs, Colo.

The writer is senior vice president of Focus on the Family.