In response to the letter written by Alice Shannon on Jan. 29 — kicking atheists out of the country. What an interesting concept. Who do we throw out next? Muslims? Jews? Buddhist? Then do we start on race? I see she covers religions and only mentions Christian faiths, which leads me to believe she is suspect of the non-Christian flavors.

If we stand by the Statue of Liberty that says ‘ ... huddled masses.” I don’t think it is followed with, “so long as they believe in God’ but not just any God. It must be the same God we believe in.”

There are many who feel we should blame the atheists for all the problems in our schools because they are not participating in “public” prayer. Nowhere does it say they cannot pray privately. And what did Jesus say about public praying in the Bible? “Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men ... . But thou, when thou prayest, enter into the closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ... .”

Hmmm. He wasn’t mandating public prayer certainly.

There are social issues to be sure, but they have not come about because of atheists. There are many culprits to blame social ills on — alcoholism, abuse of children and spouses, drug addiction, etc. I think you get the picture.

Our country opened its arms to everyone. We were a young nation, we needed people with a variety of skills and they weren’t going to come out of just one country. We are rich in varied cultures, traditions and people of color. We are a strong country not just economically but in the arts and sciences. All those productive people are not White Anglo Saxon Protestants.

Ms. Shannon could merely be thankful “privately” that she has a personal relationship with God and treat others the way the Bible teaches, which is “Love one another as I have loved you.”

There was no parameters to “one another.” Mankind chose to put people into boxes, sects and mankind has done more killing in the name of God than anything else. I have yet to see an atheist crusader, or an atheist jihad. But in this day and age anything is possible.

One more thing: Be cautious about saying the “majority” of Americans want this. Quite possibly the majority are those quietly praying on their own not overly concerned about what the atheists are up to.

Ms. Shannon, I wish it were so easy to dump all of the worlds’ ills on one faction of society. But it isn’t that easy. And wars are started often because that is the mentality.

Debbie Andrys

Chugiak