Christian values?

When I first thought about responding to Fred Dryden's letter published on Sept. 7, my first thought was to ask which biblical values and then point out some of the horrendous "values" espoused in the Bible or ask which Bible since there are several that don't agree, but I've found that arguing the Bible with believers is less than effective.

According to Mr. Dryden, "it has been said that this is a Christian nation." It has also been said that this is NOT a Christian nation by no less an authority than President James Madison. Yes, I know Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli was intended to point out that the U.S. does not restrict the freedoms of any religion, particularly Islam (oh, the post 9/11 irony!), but still the first sentence of Article 11 does say that the USA "is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion".

The main thrust of Mr. Dryden's letter was that the U.S. should return to biblical, meaning positive, values (an argument on the hijacking of positive values by Christians can be left for another letter). Let's start with the apparent overwhelming support President Donald Trump gets from Christians.

It takes only a millisecond to identify at least five of the Ten Commandments that he's stomped all over. Or how about Matthew 22:21, the separation of Church and State, which makes it clear that putting "In God We Trust" on school walls, money, police cars, etc., is counter to biblical teachings since these things are in "Caesar's" sphere, not God's sphere.

So, yes, let's return to "Christian" values. A good place to start is with Christians themselves.

Mary Hunter

Carpentersville