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On Monday I came home from school prepared to write an article on the blood drive and CSF Shadow Day. However, upon opening The Dispatch and flipping to the Opinion Page and subsequently attending a City Council meeting at the beginning of which was a five-minute religious invocation, I changed my mind.

For years now I have read articles in The Dispatch that speak out in favor of abolishing the separation of church and state and against teaching evolution in the classroom.

Members of this community have been quick to respond to articles relating to the latter problem, but few have dared to tackle the first. Articles like that of Pastor Richard Garcia, which appeared on Monday in this newspaper, cannot go unchallenged. I hope that this column is only the beginning of a community effort to promote tolerance and acceptance rather than a continued blindness to not only the rights of the non-Christian world, but also to Christians who support the idea that religion belongs in the church and the home and not in the public schools.

For those who did not read the column Monday let me offer this quote from Pastor Garcia's article. 'They (news media, editorials and celebrities) exhort the virtues of and defend things like safer sex, evolution and sexual relations outside of marriage, divorce, religious (non-Christian) tolerance and violence-promoting music." Garcia begins his article contemplating the tragedy at Columbine High School and how such a complete disregard for human life could exist in today's world.

Yet, as he speaks of appreciating human life, he really speaks only of appreciating Christian-life as he is angered an saddened by "religious (non-Christian) tolerance."

Personally, as a Jew, I am offended that Pastor Garcia would dare to link tolerance for non-Christians with the Columbine tragedy. This is not only incorrect, but it attempts to ostracize non-Christians in a mourning process that should be uniting people rather than dividing them.

I have a few words on this subject, but, suffice it to say, that Garcia's blatant separation of the world Into Christian and "other" is not helping society. Rather, it contributes to the type of societal isolation that was one of the root causes of the shootings in Colorado.

Garcia posed a few questions one of which reads: 'How is disallowing teachers from reading their Bibles or raying in schools made our world a better place?'

I cannot answer this question using Garcia's definition of 'our' so let me first say that for me 'our" means, every member of, society, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Atheist or other. So how has it made out world a better place? It has given every student equal protection under the law and the right to choose his/her own religion without having a system of beliefs, forced upon him or her. This freedom is clearly defined in the First Amendment.

It is comforting to know that while I stand temporarily alone on the Opinion Page, I am not alone at Gilroy High School. The following are comments made by students at Gilroy High in response to Pastor Garcia's article.

"As a Christian, I am dismayed that Pastor Garcia uses the term 'our' when it is clear he is referring only to Christians. He is assuming that as a Christian I share his belief that we should not tolerate non-Christians. This is incorrect," commented one senior, who asked to remain anonymous.

Another student, Ethan Stocks, said, "I found Garcia's article hypocritical and disrespectful. On one hand, he preaches against racial strife yet on the other, he, inspires intolerance among religious groups. I found his lack of tolerance in conflict with my own Christian beliefs."

I realize that this article may attract more response than one about a blood drive, but I feel strongly that we must send a. message as a society that there is no place for intolerance of any kind, whether (sic) racial or religious.

As a community we must focus on that which draws us together while at the same time celebrating our diversity and accepting one another's differences.