Corrupting the church.

As a subscriber to Church & State, I have read many letters and articles by commentators, all bearing on this basic point: when the church gets entangled with the state, it is the church that suffers--and is likely to become corrupted as a result.

David Kuo, a former worker in the Bush White House, has written a just-published book that illustrates this very point. The book is titled Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction.

John Farmer, national political correspondent for the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger recently wrote an article ("Easy Mark For A White House Con") that offers a brief review of Mr. Kuo's book. In just a few hundred words, he hits the proverbial nail on the head.

Kuo tells how the members of the Religions Right were used, and abused, by the Bush administration--which publicly embraced them, and privately mocked them! All the administration did, in effect, was throw them a few symbolic bones--small compensation for all their zeal and efforts on behalf of the administration over the years.

Perhaps more misguided Religious Right types will wake up to the fact that they've been had; that, to put it bluntly, they've been seduced and abandoned. Perhaps. when they've gotten over their chagrin and disappointment, they may even see fit to join Americans United.

Let's hope so.

Frederick Goldman

Englishtown, N.J.