Letters to the Editor

San Francisco Examiner 12/12/94

The American people, God Bless 'em...

Editor -

I am surprised that the Republicans are pushing school prayer. If they persist, I'm afraid they could blow their mandate from, in Bob Dole's favorite word, "the American people." Mr. Dole should talk to Jesse Helms. Jesse knows that the American people will not tolerate spending their hard-earned taxes to support anything un-American, and religion is un-American.

To Illustrate: Religion says "Thou shalt not kill." The American people like killing. They stand and salute when hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers are bulldozed alive. They want Uzis for Christians. They're enthusiastically in favor of the death penalty. To see the issue full spectrum, just check out Pensacola, Fla, where they're planning to kill someone for killing people for killing people.

Religion says, "Thou shalt not steal." The American people say thou mayest steal with impunity, if thou art savings-and-loan executives.

Religion says, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." The American people say suffer the homeless children to get out of town and, according to Newt, wind up in orphanages.

Religion says, "Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled." The American people say no more welfare.

Religion says, "The meek shall inherit the Earth." The American people hate the meek. They like Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Patton and that great modern American philosopher, Vince Lombardi.

Religion says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." The American people say blessed are the Green Berets. The American people love war, and if they can't have war, they go to war movies, play war video games and join militia groups.

Religion says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The American people are the most impassioned consumers on Earth, and vote for control of panhandlers.

Well, it goes on and on. There are religious texts going back 3,000 years, full of the same kind of nutty ideas. Adult American people have enough sense to know that these old-fashioned religious concepts aren't really serious, but innocent children could easily be swayed. We must write to our members of Congress today, and stop school prayer, or we might turn out a generation of people committed to world peace or something equally crazy.

Richard H. Talbott
Mill Valley