Re: 鈥淪eparation of church and state is utter poppycock,鈥� comment, April 12.
The tract by Chris Coleman does not belong on the Comment page. There is a page of the newspaper devoted to religion.
Demonstrably, people of faith do not work together, even peoples of the same faith. While one religious group develops a sense of community, it does so at the expense of others.
If history could be coloured, it would be red, the colour of blood spilled as a result of the never-ending internecine rivalry between theists. There are religious wars ongoing today, as there have always been, and in a war there is no sense of community.
The separation of church and state is imperative, as the aspirations of the religious (xenophobia, mysogyny, mutilation) often do not reflect the aspirations of the community at large.
Coleman writes to this in his last paragraph: 鈥淥ne person with two aspects of support,鈥� one of which is based in the secular tenet of governance. It is imperative for these and other reasons that government be secular 鈥� to use Coleman鈥檚 metaphor: silo-ed.
Allan Winks
Nanaimo
