Letter to the Editor: By being secular, we include everyone – Canton Repository

Reading the April 4 column, ''Easter is a promise that death is not the end,'' and the April 10 letter, ''Repository's Easter newspaper disappointed,'' compelled me as an atheist to speak out.

I appreciate Charita Goshay's April 4 column mentioning the recent Gallup poll that ''the number of Americans connected to a house of worship has fallen to 47%for the first time in 100 years,'' which I see as good news.People are beginning to realize that you can be moral without attending church, because you don't need religion to tell you that getting along with othersand not hurting themis the right thing to do.

As for the letter complaining about the Repository's Easter page, I thought it was just fine, but it does bring up the question of the paper recognizing no holidays at all, or all holidays from other cultures which would include: Ramadan,Eid al-Fitr, Juneteenth,Diwali, Indigenous Peoples Day(replacing Columbus Day), Hanukkah,and Kwanzaa, to name just a few.I would also add that religion and secular beliefs should be about compassion for all, and tolerance, tolerance for the LGBTQ+ community, reproductive rights, and supporting the separation of church and state, and that if you use religion to justify sexism, homophobia, and anti-choice rhetoric, then your beliefs are hurtful, wrongand immoral.

The cancel culture belongs to those who want everyone to be heterosexual, anti-choice, homophobicand Christian, while the compassion culture recognizes that LGBTQ+ people have rights, support Black Lives Matter, Indigenous people, all people of color, reproductive rights, and support immigrants and refugees.

Keeping religion out of public schools and the government is the right thing to do, because by being secular, were including everyone, and thats what compassion without religious discrimination is really about.

Nancy Dollard,Lake Township

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Letter to the Editor: By being secular, we include everyone - Canton Repository