Sadly, I must say that Clairann Haney (Letters, Jan. 8) fails to disprove the fact that many American Christians are bigots. She demonstrates some knowledge of the scriptures but exhibits a complete disdain for more recent history and a willingness to ignore, reword or augment anything I wrote that doesn’t fit her view, that I’m a worse bigot.

The points of my recent letters were that Christians can take little credit for founding the New World, should not be overly proud had they even done so, because not all that has transpired since 1492 has been exemplary, and are not alone in doing great things.

Nowhere did I say anything derogatory about all Christians, which Ms. Haney enclosed in quotes to help make her distortions easier to swallow.

For those who insist that our Founding Fathers were all zealous Bible thumpers, I refer you to “His Excellency, George Washington” by Joseph Ellis. Ellis describes “The Father of our County” as “a lukewarm Episcopalian who never took communion.” In Washington’s own words to a Jewish congregation in Rhode Island: “The Citizens of the United States of America … All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship … For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

In other words, let’s be good citizens and work together, no matter whom we worship.

James M. Bruner

Oak Harbor