People manipulate Bible for own benefit

I would like to respond to a flyer I received from the National Day of Reason while I attended the National Day of Prayer event Thursday.

They quoted Matthew 6, saying Jesus said that we should not pray in public. If I took this scripture out of context like they did, I would say that Jesus told us not to pray in church.

Further I refer you to John 11. Jesus prayed in public before he raised Lazarus from the dead. I do not think that Jesus would do something that he told us was wrong.

Second, the flyer said that the non-religious people felt like second-class citizens. If they had been citizens of the 13 original colonies, they would have been second-class citizens. If the prevailing religion of a colony was the Congregational Church, only members of the Congregational Church would have been allowed to vote and hold office. If a citizen of the colony had been a member of the Presbyterian Church, for example, he would not have been allowed to vote or hold office.

That is one reason why the First Amendment was added to the Constitution. It was added so that membership in a particular church would not be required of a citizen to enable them to vote or hold office.

George W. Kunzman Jr.

Marion