THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 22 lines
Professor Nouri Maanavi (news, Sept. 6) is to be commended for his courageous and perceptive public recognition of the connection of Iran's problems with the religious orientation of its government and the need for our diplomatic efforts to influence trends in the area.
His cogent statement that ``the only way to create a democratic society is to separate their religion from their politics'' should not be ignored. Mr. Maanavi's background renders his opinions particularly meaningful.
How grateful we should all be that our founding fathers had the wisdom to build safeguards against this folly into our Constitution - far and away the most perfect ever written. We tamper with such a fine-tuned document at great risk of doing serious damage to the national fabric.
RONALD L. CHANDLER
Norfolk, Sept. 10, 1996 by CNB