OPINION:
Our churches and temples are what made us American and kept us on the path of what is good (“The church has always been the answer to everything that ails us,” web. Nov. 4).
But “the salt and light” of the church suffered a horrendous blow when, in 1954, then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson proposed an amendment to revoke the tax-exempt status of any religious institution that did its job — namely, to stand against the evils of the day by expressing political opinion and educating congregations on the Ten Commandments.
The church still reels from this blow. As a consequence, schoolchildren have been indoctrinated in Marxist ideology. and now it seems that Congress itself is not very American. Or were so many in Congress indoctrinated as children that they simply never learned the truth?
If the church could climb out from under this weight and counter the evils of the day, America would be restored to sound leadership. But the church must be free of government restraints and threats in order to stand firm against the gates of hell.
ELIZABETH WARD NOTTRODT
Baltimore
