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Not Alone

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ROB BELL

Published: January 8, 2008

Editor:

Thanks to James Hibbs for his Dec. 22 op-ed page column in your print editions, "No Zealots, Please." I am not a Christian, though I may hold the Nazarene as a mentor. I am fearful of the growing number of Americans who consider this to be a "Christian Country."

If one reads history, one finds that many of our Founding Fathers were not Christian, but Deists, who may have attended Christian churches for other reasons.

Consider the 1796 Treaty with Tripoli which opens with: "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion." It was signed by President John Adams.

Our Founding Fathers wished to avoid the religious wars that ravaged Europe. It was the Baptists who insisted that a Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution to guaranty to guaranty the separation of church and state. "

All religions contain some good, and it is an individual's right to follow any – or none. Christians may make up a majority of our population, but sheer numbers don't make it a Christian Country – just a country with a lot of Christians.

There are also Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, etc. You are not alone.

Rob Bell
Holiday

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