Out of touch with Christ’s message

Valerie Smith, North Las Vegas

Sunday, April 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Rob Gardner, in a Wednesday letter to the editor, objected to gay marriages based upon Scripture. He further stated our nation was formed on Christian principles and that the United States used to be a Christian nation.

How do you respond to someone who uses religious dogma to justify the act of denying rights to people? If they are Muslim many seem to call it radical extremism, but if they are Christian many consider it not only correct, but also God’s will.

What would Jesus do? I think he told us with both his words and actions: Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Jesus spent much of his life helping the poor and sick and, to the best of my knowledge, he did not spend any time denying rights or chastising homosexuals. Conservatives have played many Christians by pushing social issues such as gay marriage, while playing down those values Christ dedicated a majority of his earthly time advocating.

Last, this nation was formed on Judeo-Christian values. The Founding Fathers, many of whom were Unitarians, clearly understood the importance of separation of church and state in the First Amendment. Here lies the prohibition of establishing a national religion, or the preference of one religion over another, nonreligion over religion, or religion over nonreligion.

Rightly, a basic American right has been — and should always be — freedom to live your life as you wish, so long as your actions do not infringe on the rights of another.