Mr. Bushaw [letter to the editor on Dec. 29] is trying to prove a myth. There is no “separation of church and state” in the Constitution.

Freedom of religion means you are allowed to practice your religious beliefs without government interference. That is also the real meaning in the Treaty of Tripoli of 1797.

If Mr. Bushaw did some research, as he advises, he would also learn that the 1797 treaty was superseded, in 1805, by another “Treaty of Peace and Amity” in which the religious clause was left out, so as to end that debate.