Several writers have correctly noted that because God is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, Robert Adams is wrong in claiming (Letters, Jan. 8) that the “Bill of Rights outline rights that are God-given and unalienable.”

Having read a wide variety of religious texts, I’d add that the opposite is also true: the rights granted by our Constitution are virtually nonexistent in any major scripture claiming divine inspiration. If anything, most religious writings resemble Deuteronomy and heavily restrict personal behavior. By all indications, God isn’t big on individual rights.

So if we want freedom under the law, we’d best stick with the rights enumerated by our forefathers and appreciate that they, not God, were the ones who had the wisdom to give them to us.

— David A. James

Fairbanks