New McCarthyites

Dear Editor,

Mr. Anderson, I have been going through my mind to try and see who you and others like yourself are most like in history. You certainly are not among the Washington-, Jefferson-, or Lincoln-style leaders of the world. None of you are on the same level of greatness of Billy Graham or Garner Ted Armstrong.

I began looking in the other direction and found that none of you are even on the same level of Stalin, Hitler or Mussolini.

This morning, as I read your response to my Open Forum, it dawned on me who you and others of your ilk are most like. Sen. Joseph McCarthy. This man, along with those of the Senate who he deluded, ruined the lives of literally hundreds of people for simply not living the American way as Senator McCarthy saw it. He saw a communist behind every bush, under every rock, and in every dark corner.

In much the same way, the right wing religious movement in this country is trying to deprive everyday Americans, regardless of their religious affinity of life, liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness. It is becoming ever more evident that if this is not stopped by the rank and file population of the American Electorate, this great country will be no better than Iraq was or Iran is, with regard to a government based on the religious beliefs of those who refuse to remember that this country was originally set up to avoid tyranny from the government, and to also allow religious freedom, so that all could practice religion as they saw fit, not as a few decreed they should.

It is time for every American to take a long hard look at the direction our government is going and bring it to a screeching halt. It is time to get rid of those who have crawled into bed with the Christian Right for money and votes. Our government is based on a firm separation of church and state and this should not be compromised for any reason.

To do so will only return us to the days when only certain people could enter through the front door, or get a drink on a hot day. It will eventually return us to the time when people were dragged from their homes in the night and murdered for nothing more than being different, for being black, Jewish, or perhaps for something that they said that was considered counter to the view point of those in power.

As far as no one arguing with you over your quotations, the Bible was written in such a way that no two people will get the same message from any part of it. Each will come away with a slightly different meaning to a verse.

Some use what they read to enhance their own lives, while others interpret it for their own ends, or those of a group to which they belong.

This last group I will oppose to my last breath. I believe that there is but one God, and that He is to all people, regardless of how they worship Him.

In closing, it is my fervent hope and prayer that another will emerge to break the back of the religious right in the same way that Edward R. Murrow helped to break the back of McCarthyism.

America has no place for demagogues of any type, and those who would play on the fears of the public are a worse threat to this nation than any Communist or Muslim plot. They have the power to corrupt and hide under the protection of "Religious

Freedom," or "National Security."

Sincerely

Robert A. Yost

McCook