Here's a scathing review of Estes Park, Colorado Town Trustee David Habecker, who has become embattled after protesting "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegience by remaining seated.

Town leader finds it hard to keep seat

The columnist implied that protesting the Pledge made you Wiccan, and he tried to conjure Thomas Jefferson. It's as if he was writing it just to see if I'd respond.

I did, with a letter to him and his editor:

In response to Mr. Harsanyi’s column, "Town leader finds it hard to keep seat", dated 13 December 2004, I'd like to point out a few things that his research may not have turned up.

First, the correct way to say "see ya" in Wiccan is approximately the same way one says "see ya" in Christian. It goes "see ya". See? Pretty similar.

Second, Mr. Harsanyi’s reference to Thomas Jefferson is a bit off. When he says "And we'll ignore the fact that Thomas Jefferson had the temerity to cite the Almighty Lord him/her/itself in the Declaration of Independence", he should know that our esteemed Third President was not only not a Christian, but was a strict believer in the separation of Church and State.

When Mr. Harsanyi says "We won't even mention that freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion", I must ask what the difference is? Christians worship one god, others worship two, three, ten, one hundred, or even millions. Atheists worship none. Is their lack of religion to be less protected than someone's prevalence of religion?

Interestingly enough, when asked by Richard Price in 1787:

"Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?"

Thomas Jefferson responded with:

"I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians."

Jefferson, by his own words, saw more merit in no religion than in Christianity. He even re-wrote the gospels, stripping out the nonsense and keeping the morality, basically cleansing it of divinity, which he felt that man did not need.

Mr. Harsanyi should also know that "Wiccan" does not automatically imply "Anti-Christian", as he seemed to imply by stating that even in the face of his protest, Mr. Habecker had not declared himself a Wiccan. I believe it to be very naive of Mr. Harsanyi to assume that because someone is opposed to the line "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, that they automatically represent one religion in particular. In fact, Francis Bellamy, the man who authored the pledge in 1892, was a Baptist minister. He surely could have added the words "Under God" had he seen fit, but didn't, because he was known to support the separation of church and state.

Of course, the true origins of things are rarely of any value to people who don't see a need to keep God and Government separate. I just thought Mr. Harsanyi would find some of the facts interesting. Not that they would change his tone. He doesn't actually deal with facts, just opinions.

Paul Bagosy
Norristown, PA

-pb