Gays, the Bible and the Constitution

Dorothy Mann (“Sin Is No Civil Right,” O.C. Platform, Jan. 7) must think our Constitution was written during the Dark Ages rather than the (Age of) Enlightenment. I wonder if she’s actually ever read it. The architects of our Constitution were not Bible-thumping Christians; they were deists, believers in an indifferent God, creator of a rational, scientific, clockwork universe. Fortunately, our forefathers knew the importance of keeping the state free from the influence of any church, a provision of the Constitution that Ms. Mann seems unaware of.

I laughed out loud when I read her argument that “logically” tolerance of homosexuality would lead to tolerance of “incest, bestiality, etc.” Obviously, she didn’t know she was committing one of the most common and blatant fallacies of logic, known as the “slippery slope” argument. Ms. Mann’s commentary is a clear illustration of how ignorance is at the root of prejudice and bigotry.

That such ignorance is so prevalent in our society today is indeed frightening.

MICHAEL SUTTON

Costa Mesa