"George,

I thought that I would offer support to Mary Ellen Sikes and her speech concerning the threat to religious freedom all the same although commentary on this subject is probably ancient history by now and I am not an athiest or anything, mais quand même... Those who don't belong to a traditional religion officially recognized by the United States government should be treated no differently from those who do. Each person has a right to believe or not belive in God or follow any form of worship practiced by the majority of Americans.

It is true that if one looks back on history, the anti-communist movement in our government was a bit ridiculous. It is true that Marxism opposes the practice of religion (that well-known "opiate of the people" quote), but going to the other extreme in promoting religion to guard against possible communist sentiment in America contradicts the right of every American to choose his or her beliefs. The McCarthy hearings were a sad chapter in American History, a panicked overreaction in the same genre as the Salem Witch Trials.

Lack of religion does not mean a communist invasion will ensue, or that our country will plunge into the Dark Ages once again (Christianity flourished during the Dark Ages, if one remembers) if one is not bombarded with beliefs from one particular class of relgions whose beliefs in which one may or may not believe. In other countries where traditional
religious practice is on the decline, notably those in Europe, one does not see a complete collapse of the government or reversion to communism. To drive home the point, the following is a direct quote from a publication released every year by Gérard Mermet, a renowned and highly published French author who has conducted in-depth research on the social tendencies of Europeans over the past few decades. In the 2001 edition of "Fancoscopie", an annual publication wich outlines the demographic tendencies of the French population, one can find this quote: "La religion n'est plus considéré par la plupart des Français comme la référence ultimate de la morale." (Page 256)

Translated: Religion is no longer considered by the majority of the French population as the ultimate moral reference.

Only 41% of the sample population that Mermet used to conduct his research this past year claimed to believe in God, 26% decalred themselves as atheists, 23% as agnostics and 10% did not declare themselves as apartaining to any of the aforementioned categories. One should add, however, that 75% of the respondants declared a religious affiliation, which may at first seem contradictory to the other survey results, but in fact implies that a small percentage of the French population practice a major religion. In a county where nearly four-fifths of its population claims to be Catholic, only 7% of these Catholics practice regulary.

Does this mean the French are a bunch of Godless heathens worthy of our contempt? No, I think not, no matter how poorly some of the servers in Parisian restaraunts treat Americans. France - the country that gave us many of the philosophers of the Enlightenment whose ideas our Founding Fathers used to create the United States and without whose assistance there more than likely would not have been a United States, - is not a country without citizens or patriots of its own, contrary to what Mr. Bush the Senior may think if in fact he was quoted correctly. I am not against the practice of religion at all. The world "religion" comes from the Latin "religare", which means linked (like the modern French verb relier, to link). Religion is an excellent source of community support. However, it appears that more and more people at the dawn of the 21st century prefer to search for religious solace outside the confines of traditional religious beliefs, whatever beliefs that solace may entail. I don't find this alarming at all.

One cannot improve if one does not question the beliefs one was brought up on. We were given our reason to use, not to waste. I am not claiming that the religious should be seen as
malicious; merely I would like for the religious of the mainstream religions to respect the beliefs of those who do not belong to a popular religion. Okay. Enough said. Good weekend and all that fun stuff. Ciao" (Joseph Ligouri, electronic email, February 23, 2001).