I would like to respond to a recent letter from Mr. Porter Downey III. I will try to use small words so a small mind such as his might be able to grasp their meaning. Mr. Downey, the men and women of different faiths who serve in our military do so because, just like you and I, they love our country. According to www.military.com, the military is a team of men and women from all over the United States working together with a single purpose: To protect our nation and fight for freedom. I do not see a reference to any specific deity or faith in that sentence, do you?

Our constitution’s 1st Amendment reads, in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What this means is that arrogant individuals like you cannot try to soothe their irrational hatred of all non-traditional faiths by forcing our government to mandate a state religion.

This Thanksgiving you also might want to remember that the people who came to these shores so very long ago were attempting to escape from the Church of England a government mandated religion.

Your letter smacks of ignorance, fear and intolerance. Our country is a wonderful patchwork of colors and faiths, Mr. Downey — just as a free nation is meant to be.

Your comparison of an Islamic Center with a Nazi Social Club has got to be one of the most offensive sentences I have ever had the misfortune to see in print.

As much as bigots like you would like to see our country homogenized (oops sorry a big word; have someone look it up and explain it to you) into a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant Fatherland, bear in mind that the ‘purified’ nation has been attempted before: in Adolph Hitler’s Germany. Who’s the Nazi now, Mr. Downey?

Angie Rigney

Cumming