Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I would like to thank Dawn Dale for her response (“A challenge with holes,” Sept. 17 Readers Write) and for helping me illustrate the problem we have fixing just about any problem today. While factors like what a person believes, their idea of proper governance, and what they have gleaned from history help to shape them, there are no holes in my challenge for those who can think independently. That said, when these factors become factions—the thing Lincoln claimed killed most republics—they do become walls.

Religion, when it is used as a weapon, insures rights to some and denies it to others, a conflict between the 1st and 14th Amendments we see playing out today in our country. This is why our Constitution allows for the freedom of and from (no state religion) to prevent one faction from asserting their scripture as Ms. Dale puts it on others.

Political factions often consider the wants of a few over the needs of the many, rather tha...