Religious Test
Not Allowed

While John Gropper and I occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum, we are of one accord regarding our interpretation of Article VI of the Constitution of the United States.

Mr. Don Reddick (12/20/07) took issue with John’s assertion that questions regarding any political candidate’s religious beliefs contravene Article VI.

Mr. Reddick is to be commended for his scholarship in ferreting out passages that support his position, though the documents he quotes are totally unrelated to Mr. Gropper’s argument. He claims, quite erroneously, that nothing in the Constitution forbids any religious "litmus test" of presidential candidates. I would refer Mr. Reddick to Section (3) of Article VI of the Constitution of the United States, and I quote: "…but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." If the inquisition to which Republican candidates are being subjected by the religious right does not constitute a "test," I shudder to think what does.

At the end of his letter, Mr. Reddick tries to dispute John’s observation that there are similarities between religious fanatics of fundamentalist Islam and fundamentalist Christianity. Unfortunately, he failed to realize that Mr. Gropper was addressing the intolerance inherent in fanaticism of ANY stripe; Mr. Reddick’s reference to the Iranian government’s position regarding Israel is a non-sequitur, and bears no relevance to the broader question raised by John’s remarks. Such specious reasoning really has no place in a serious discussion of critical issues.

Gregory Crawford

Gaysville

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