Remember history

My first ancestors were Puritans who came to this country in 1629 as refugees from the Anglican Church of England. Two other branches were Quakers who settled here in the 1600s for the same reason. Another branch was Swiss Mennonites who settled here in the 1600s to escape the religious wars of Europe. Two of my ancestors were Protestants who were burned at the stake by Catholic Queen Mary of England, and their grandchildren settled here in the 1600s.

All of these ancestors came to this country to escape religious persecution. They had descendants who fought in the Revolutionary War and helped establish this country. They intended to create a secular country, not a Christian country, as some people claim. This is confirmed by the “Treaty of Tripoli.” Even some of our more important signers of the Constitution were reported to be Deists, not Christians.

This is why we allow Muslims to live in this country and prevent Christian churches from dominating the politics of our government. This is why we have the First Amendment and other laws that are intended to keep religious groups from influencing our government representatives’ decisions.

George Clark

Deer Park