Mailbag:

I must respond to Russ Niewiarowski’s letter (“Obama renounces religion with bill,” Oct. 31) in which he denounces “the national acceptance of homosexuality” and urges Christian values on all of us.

I would remind Niewiarowski that this nation was founded upon the separation of church and state, and that in any event, the Founding Fathers were mostly deists and not necessarily Christians.

Thus, under our Constitution, the sexual preferences of people should be strictly voluntary choices made by the people themselves, rather than having these preferences dictated by “Christian values.”

In addition, I don’t think homosexuality per se was ever addressed in the Bible.

I for one am not a Christian and don’t need or want Christians such as Niewiarowski telling me what my sexual preferences should be, or that I should “follow the teachings and lifestyle of Christ.”

Under our Constitution, I am in fact “free to live as [I] see fit,” despite Niewiarowski’s apparent wishes to the contrary.

Thank God (if in fact He exists) that people such as Niewiarowski are not in positions to dictate their values.

DAVID PEARSE

Costa Mesa