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Big leap of faith

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2009

The recent billboards denouncing separation of church and state have ignited the fires of a controversy that has been smoldering for decades. Not only has it been virtually unquestioned that the United States is a Christian nation, the much deeper assumption has been that morality can only be derived from religion. This is an enormous leap of faith even for the most religious zealous.

In any developing country the moral zeitgeist remains in a state of flux; changes in ethnicity, increased education and political convictions all move to affect the status quo. Concepts of morality are drawn and perceived from experience and an inherent human ability to interact with others. Americans live, not under a Christian or any other theocratic government, but in a nation where all are free to practice or not practice religion in accordance with the principles and laws of a nation which history makes clear were never Christian in their origin.

JONATHAN P. SMITH

Lithia

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