Subject: IWG Daily News Ten Commandments Letter
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 23:21:43 +2000 (EDT)

July 31, 1999

Philadelphia Daily News
PO Box 7788
Phila., PA 19101

Dear Editors:

Recent letters to the editor debating interpretation,
translation and numbering of the Ten Commandments are
ample proof that Congress should stay out of the
religion business.  Just imagine how bad the debate
would get if we actually reached the point of trying
to decide on an official version for the Philadelphia
public schools.  Actually we've had this debate in
Philadelphia before:  In 1844 it was over which
version of the Bible should be used in the schools; in
the subsequent riots, twenty people were killed, and
two churches, a convent, a religious school, and
hundreds of homes were burned to the ground.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

Note to the editor.  Mention of the 1844 riots can be
found at the following web sites:

Notre Dame Archives: 
http://cawley.archives.nd.edu/guide/81.htm
Institute for First Amendment Studies:
http://www.berkshire.net/~ifas/fw/9606/violence.html
American Athiests: 
http://www.atheists.org/schoolhouse/street.html

Pages 357-358 of Philadelphia: A 300-year History
(Russell Weigley, editor, W.W. Norton & Co., 1982.)
also deal with the 1844 riots and reference several
books from early this century and last dedicated
solely to this event.

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
http://www.libertynet.org/iwg           and clergy supporting gay rights,
[email-masked]                      reproductive freedom, and the 
voice: 215-235-3050  fax: 232-0829      separation of church and state.

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