Subject: IWG Naples FL church/state/gay rights letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 09:15:08 -0400 (EDT)

July 31, 1998

Naples Daily News
Box 7009
Naples, FL 33941

Dear Editors:

The United States Constitution is not based on the
principles of any one religion.  Even if it were, it
specifically forbids the establishment of an official
religion, so the basic principles of Christianity
should have no place in deciding how to interpret the
Constitution.  One reason we do not have an official
religion is because there have always been many
different Christian sects and denominations represented
in the United States, whose members disagree on many
theological issues.  Over the years since the
Constitution was ratified, there have been even more
divisions and debates in Christianity, and steady
growth in the number of people who practice religions
other than Christianity.  

One of the major religious debates of recent years in
almost all religions, including Christianity, has been
over sexual orientation. The percentage of the
population which believes that homosexuality is morally
equivalent to heterosexuality has been rising, as has
the larger percentage of the population who realize
that all Americans are entitled to equal protection
under the law, regardless of what we may think of their
religious beliefs and practices, how they identify
themselves, or who they choose to associate with, live
with, or love.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 16 congregations and
organizations and 59 clergy from 16 religious traditions. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/iwg/          reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.