Nancy Grekin inaccurately characterizes the First Amendment as “prohibiting the establishment of religion” (“Constitution prohibits establishment of religion,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 31).

More accurately, it is the purpose of the Establishment Clause of the Amendment to prohibit the establishment of a “national” religion, to protect the freedom of individuals to worship in a manner of their choosing, or to refrain from doing so at all if that is their choice.

There are multiple references to Judeo-Christian values and beliefs in our founding documents indicating that it was not original intent to keep those apart from governance.

The separation of church and state spoken of by Thomas Jefferson in later years was intended to reinforce the Establishment Clause in context.

Stephen Hinton

Waialua

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