GOVERNOR: Was doing his job

This letter is in response to the letter to the editor written by Laura Boro. Her assessment that Governor Otter must observe the “clear separation of church and state” is in error, as most of the media and the uninformed are about the relationship of church and state. Thankfully, The Press editor printed the entire text of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution at the top of the Opinion page in the Friday, Oct. 17 edition.

The first sentence of the amendment clearly states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof:” The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution so the average educated person reading it would understand it without the help of an overactive judiciary. This statement was placed first because they came from a country that required every individual to be a member of the Anglican Church of England and they did not want that same kind of oppression here. With those facts in mind, clearly Governor Otter was following the law as voted on by the majority of Idaho citizens and not just his or anyone else’s conscience.

The belief that there is a separation of church and state as referred to by Mrs. Boro was made by an overactive Supreme Court which has read into the First Amendment something that was not there. However, the Supreme Court in the 2014 decision in the case of Town of Greece v. Galloway may change the way we look at that stance. It strikes at the heart of the constitutional prohibition on government endorsement of religious doctrine or belief. And it brings religious conservatives within inches of a victory they have sought for more than two decades. For the sort of people who believe America should be a “Christian nation,” today is a today to celebrate.

DENNIS EDELBROCK

Hayden