LETTER: Laws shouldn’t impose religious beliefs

To the Editor:

We Americans love our freedom. Freedom of religion is something we hear a lot about, especially from Republicans.

These folks like to tell us that for some women to have the right to a safe legal abortion or that gay and lesbian couples being allowed to legally marry somehow infringes on their religious freedoms.  I have a hard time understanding this concept. I just don’t get it.

All Americans have the right to freely worship in any way they see fit. In America we can be Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims or any other faith we decide to be. Or we can just decide not to adhere to any particular faith,  heck, in the good old USA we can even be atheists.

But what makes us so different from a lot of other countries, especially those in the Middle East is that our government says no one has the right to force anyone else to adhere to their particular beliefs. Some folks in this great nation seem to have forgotten that. They tell us that their faith forbids same sex marriage. Great, then make sure you don’t marry anyone of the same sex. Also no church in this country is forced to perform or sanction marriages of that sort, although some have.

Some faiths condemn abortion in all cases, some don’t. No one is forcing anyone to have abortions, and contrary to what some folks believe, no public money is spent on abortion.

Some religions ban contraception, they call it a sin. No one is being forced to use it. Most women in this country use contraception, and some get free contraception paid for with public dollars, but doesn’t it make more sense to provide free birth control than to have to help support unwanted children?

Let’s face it folks, in this country we’re free to do a lot of things. We’re free to practice our religions as we see fit, but we don’t have the freedom to make laws that force anyone’s religious beliefs on someone else.

If you think someone is sinning by using birth control or having an abortion or marrying someone they love if that person is of the same sex, then the best thing you can do is pray for them. And if they’re displeasing to God … well don’t you think that’s between them and Him.

George Richard

New Richmond

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion