The tribulation that occurred at West High School's graduation ceremony is a perfect example of why we need to separate church and state. Divisiveness and contention are the direct results when the two are mingled. To make deity the source of this contention is an insult to religion and human intelligence.

It would be well for the students (and faculty) at West High to have objective lessons on the meaning of the Bill of Rights so they could understand that freedom of religion does not mean using the machinery of the state to promote religious beliefs, nor does it mean to require students to sing and hear a steady diet of religious music (whatever brand it may be).

James Madison, author of our Constitution and phraser of the First Amendment, put it well when he said, "A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical religion, to social harmony and to political prosperity."

--Nancy Moore
Letter to the Editor
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune
June 16, 1995