Freedom from religion an inconvenient truth

This is in response to John Schreiber's Sept. 18 letter chiding the claims that religion is more dangerous than secularism with regard to some isolated, historic death toll statistics. This overlooks some key distinctions between the secular and religious worlds.

There is no secular or atheist dogma akin to that which compels others to subjugate one another in the name of the metaphysical. One need only look at the current use of Islam, at large, to gain better perspective. Creeds such as Islam and Christianity directly lead to no less than honor killings, stonings, beheadings, genital mutilation, child marriages, cover-up of child sexual abuse, and shaming of natural evolution of human sexuality. Even such things as being shrouded from head to toe and being denied education (including access to the fact of evolution in the West) fall under the guise of "religious freedom."

Importantly, the First Amendment also guarantees freedom from religion - an inconvenient truth the Christian right in America can't get its collective head around. Bottom line: No comparison of inflicted human suffering even exists between the secular and religious worlds. Hopefully, as the trend dictates, humanist values will continue to win out.

Timothy Matta

Barrington