Separation of church and state makes America a stronger country

In response to the letters printed in the Thousand Oaks Acorn on Nov. 17 concerning Tina Aschenbrenner's assessment of the Calvary Chapel advertisement, one word comes to mind: dismay.

Legal and constitutional details aside, the practical reality is that we do not live in a church-state. It is sadly ironic that at a time when we are losing American lives in the Middle East in order to establish freedom and democracy in Iraq, we have individuals such as Dorothy Campagna, Lorna Maxwell and Christian Gerber who seem to express an interest in such an oppressive society and are totally comfortable imposing Christianity onto the masses and proselytizing despite the fact that the United States is a diverse mixture of many religions, all equally legitimate, and all of which have their rightful place in our pluralistic society.

Campagna's comment, "Disbelief in The Word does not negate its truth," and demanding that others read the Bible are ethnocentric, self-righteous and confirm the very "presumptuous arrogance" about which Ms. Aschenbrenner originally spoke regarding Calvary Chapel.

Furthermore, any time anyone or any one particular group professes to possess The Truth (or speak The Word), the result is divisive, problematic and oft times violent.

Historically, more wars have been fought in the name of religion than for any other reason. It is important that we respect the many versions of truth which manifest in all the different religions around the world, but to claim to know truth as an absolute is simply naive.

Thomas Jefferson's concept of the separation of church and state was not to prohibit religious expression but was a brilliant way to ensure that no one particular religious group would be oppressed as had previously been the case in England prior to the establishment of our country.

Whether it was an official founding principle or not, the separation of church and state is unarguably one of the greatest, most revolutionary American principles as it ensures that the rights and spiritual practices of peoples of all religious backgrounds are protected in our country. Surely even Campagna, Maxwell and Gerber would agree that this is a good thing. Donald Holland Thousand Oaks