The word Christianity, and indeed Christians, are generally associated with all that is considered good. Within the past three hundred years, here in America, it has come to be synonymous with words such as love, kindness, forgiveness, patience, trust, honesty and faith. In the minds of its members it embodies all that is considered right. Many believe it is the mold with which one should shape his or her life. It has become so politically and morally correct that few remember that America was settled and colonized by people fleeing religious persecution. When the constitution of the United States was being drawn up some Christians believed God was the ultimate power and thought the new American government should be subject to Him. Of course, the Church would have to speak for Him! But there were others who remembered the Catholic Church’s horrible reign in Europe and wanted no repeat performance. Those foresighted men fought for a democratic government, by the people and for the people. This letter attempts to present a “behind the scenes” look at those people and times. While the events might be touched on in school, civics, or social studies I don’t believe they’re given an honest and impartial presentation, if so, I certainly missed it during my school years.

Had it not been for men and women of independent and searching minds, agnostics, deists, socialists, atheists and freethinkers such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne, Benjamin Franklin, Lucretia Mott, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Robert Ingersoll (to mention only a few) the United States might have reverted back to the same type of Church dictatorship that ushered in the Dark Ages and devastated Europe.

It was non-religious men and women who were scorned and ridiculed as communists, socialists, and spawns of Satan, who pried the control of free speech, freedom of expression, equality for females, and human rights from the Church. (The southern Christians backed slavery and taught the slaves that God had decreed their place in the world and that they should serve their masters faithfully and without complaint--while most northern Christians pursued a “hands off” policy.) Many of those outspoken men and women sacrificed their reputations and professional careers for the cause of freedom. Christianity attempted to place God as the head of civil government, a position that would have made it subservient to the Church, while the non-religious thinkers of the age struggled to establish a government “of the people." At that time, and even into the twentieth century, the private citizen had little freedom of expression, books and art were censored to meet Christian guidelines, non-conformist were ostracized and sometimes thrown into prison. Anyone openly opposing the Church was declared a child of Satan and proclaimed the enemy of God and the state. The punishment for similar “crimes,” during the Dark Ages, was torture and death. Had I lived under the centuries of Church rule from about 1100 to the 1700’s it is likely I would have been tortured until I denied my beliefs, or I would have been burned at the stake.

Were it not for such people as those who fought to keep church and state separate and demanded individual freedom you, as a young lady, would not be able to vote, own property, pursue a career or express your opinion in public. Even your poetry would be censored by the religious establishment. As a female, you could never be ordained a minister of your own church or even debate with male members. You would have to be subservient to your husband’s will and wishes, and if he chose to abuse you physically or mentally you would have no recourse. In fact, even today, under the orthodox Catholic Church, if you were married to such a person you would have no grounds for divorce!

Don’t misunderstand me, there were many Christians who still remembered the reason their forefathers escaped to America. Those Christians stood with the “infidels” to keep church and state separate. In most cases they feared the civil government would gain control of the church and fought to keep their religion free. In that case both sides worked toward the same goal--freedom! Freedom from church or state.

My point in writing this letter, and desiring that you read it, is not to attack your beliefs; it is to encourage you to think for yourself. Religions, all religions, cause divisions, anger, hatred, persecutions and war. Look around you today at Iran, Iraq, Israel & Palestine, the Serbs and Croacians, the Irish and Catholics; the Jews and Moslems. Religions turn nation against nation, people against people, and even families against families. A good case in point is you and I--when grandfather and granddaughter cannot even discuss the subject that is division.

I’m not asking you to stop being a Christian, while I detest religions I believe in the freedom of choice that we enjoy. And just as I claim the right to believe as I like, I have to extend the same courtesy to others. All I desire is that you make your choices based upon truth and reason, not on the word of others. I want you to take advantage of the freedom that those “rebels” won for you, and remember that the position you enjoy as a woman was not granted to you by the Church or the government--but by women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. As the platitude says, “The waste of a mind is a terrible thing." Refuse to place boundaries upon your reason and never let anyone set limits for you.

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