I am writing in response to Dave Myers’ column in the July 18th edition of The Alpena News. First, I want to say that I generally enjoy Dave’s folksy writing style and him personally.

But this column made my blood boil. His piece is argued from a Christian nationalist framework, which explicitly rejects the traditional separation of church and state. Rather than offering a unifying blueprint for a fractured nation at its 250th anniversary, his piece reinforces the very ideological divisions it laments–especially for those who are not of the Christian faith.

Furthermore, he is wrong on basic history. Dave remembers 1976 through a 7-year-old’s rose-colored glasses, citing a “shared sense of community.” In reality, the country was reeling from the Watergate scandal, the end of the Vietnam War, staggering stagflation, and deep civil rights fractures.

Dave also states that “39% of the Declaration of Independence came from scriptural references in the Bible.” This is factually incorrect. The Declaration does not quote the Bible once. It was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson–a deeply unorthodox Enlightenment deist who championed the separation of church and state; he famously cut the miracles out of the New Testament with a razor blade–and was heavily influenced by thinkers like John Locke.

The Founders’ Bible Dave praises (“one of the neatest bible projects I have seen”) relies on a deeply distorted, revisionist view of history. Dave’s charm when talking about small-town parades and farm tractors unfortunately masks a troubling agenda. Claiming that the U.S. government and the Kingdom of Christ are “one and the same” is historical fiction.

We can love our community and our heritage without rewriting history or abandoning the very constitutional boundaries that protect religious freedom for everyone.

Gary Goren

Alpena