THE GREAT WALL
ABBY WISSE SCHACHTER'S review of Zev Chafets's new book singles me out for my criticism of recent attempts by some on the Christian right to claim that the Declaration of Independence is really America's baptismal certificate ("Friends in Need," March 26). She is right that in my forthcoming book Blasphemy: How the Religious Right Is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence I criticize some evangelical Christians for trying to tear down the wall of separation between church and state.
I am careful in my book to distinguish between attacking evangelical Christians as a group and criticizing specific aspects of their agenda. In my introduction I make the following point: "Many on the Religious Right are sincere and decent people who deeply believe they are doing God's work. And maybe they are, but they are not doing Jefferson's work, or the work of our other founders who strongly believed in the separation of church and state. The good people who are using the Declaration of Independence to Christianize our nation have a very different conception of governance than did the founding generation, and it is wrong for these historical revisionists to rewrite our past in an effort to change our future." Because of my strong opposition to turning America into a Christian nation in which Jews are treated as second class citizens, Schachter accuses me of being "more committed to the liberal Democratic agenda than . . . to Israel." What she fails to understand is that I, and others who support both Israel and the separation of church from state, do not believe that in America we should have to choose between support for Israel and support for a nation in which all people are equal without regard to their religious beliefs or nonbeliefs. I will continue to fight both for Israel's security and for the security of American Jews in an America with a strong commitment to separation between church and state.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Cambridge, Mass.
ABBY WISSE SCHACHTER RESPONDS: Evan gelical Christians have as much right to take advantage of all available freedoms to compete for their vision of America, as Alan Dershowitz has to flog his book.
ONE ARM, TWO FISTS
I WANT TO THANK Charlotte Hays, bless her heart, for reviewing my new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South ("Y'all's History," March 26). Miss Hays wrote that I didn't mention that Southerners grew up reading Sir Walter Scott. Some of us did not. I grew up on a pre-Disneyfied Florida farm where I was too busy orange-picking, cucumber-hauling, and cow-catching to read Ivanhoe. But for her to call me a Yankee because I was born in Florida is just unacceptable! My great great grandfather in the 8th Florida Regiment lost his arm at Fredericksburg when a bunch of selfish sons of Mississippi (where Miss Hays writes she plans to die) hogged all the good cover houses. Had her ancestors been more hospitable and considerate of my ancestors, Grandpap would have been able to pour two-fisted drinks in his Fort Meade, Fla., bar, which was well known for barring real Yankees. (He was a little irritated about losing his arm.)
CLINT JOHNSON
Ashe County, N.C.
CHARLOTTE HAYS RESPONDS: Bless Mr. Johnson's heart, but I do wish his book had been as lively as his complaints about my review. The review, then, might have been different. And, please, Clint, take some time off from cucumber-hauling and read Sir Walter Scott. It's never too late to acquire the habits of chivalry.