
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1993                   TAG: 9303310334
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CHRISTIANS AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS

TIM Thornton's March 7 commentary, "Turning dogma into secular law," wrongly accused Pat Robertson and the Christian coalition of being on a "religious crusade." He wrote that while Christians may convert others through their testimony, they do not have the right to turn "religious beliefs into secular law." His underlying premise is that Christians, or other people of faith, have no right to participate in the political process if they use religious principles as the basis for that participation.

This is a prime example of anti-Christian bias. Thornton would never have accused Dr. Martin Luther King of using the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a means of turning religious beliefs into secular law. The difference in this case is that Thornton and others like him do not agree with the principles that the Christian coalition advocates.

I agree with Thornton that religious conversion is best done through testimony. I disagree that Christians, because of their testimony, forfeit the right to participate in their government, which is supposed to be of, for and by the people. Are Christians not Americans, and do we not have the same rights and privileges as any other citizen? JOEL VAUGHAN FRIES

by CNB