To the Editor:

I was born and raised in Coplay - one square mile, one traffic light and a rich spiritual history. In 1860, Coplay’s founding residents built a school house, “which could also serve as a place to hold religious services.” The town’s first recorded communion service was “held in the school” circa 1871. During World War II, about 500 of the 3,000 residents served in uniform. The town published a magazine, called Coplay Echoes, to send to the troops. During the war years, the magazine published a letter from each of the town’s three clergy at Easter and at Christmas. Public expressions of faith in our community have always been important.

Since before I was born, Coplay Borough would set up a life-size nativity display at borough hall on Fourth Street. It became a favorite Christmas Eve tradition of mine to walk up to the display, take in the sight of it and say a prayer. Then one Christmas, it was gone.

Somewhere around 2018, the borough council received a letter from the Washington, D.C., organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State. To my knowledge, [council] received only one complaint. I am unclear if the person was even a resident of Coplay. [The person] requested that the town remove the religious display from borough hall property. The following year, [the person] sent another letter, threatening to bring legal action against the town if the Coplay manger was not removed. This time, the town solicitor advised the council to comply.

On Jan. 14, 2020, I attended a monthly council meeting and expressed my deep disappointment with [its] decision to remove the display. The council chair expressed that a town like Coplay could not risk the financial ruin of taking the issue to court.

I learned later the same year that Susan Wild, representing the Lehigh Valley in Congress, signed a letter sent to President-elect Joe Biden Nov. 30, 2020. As a part of Secular Democrats of America, Wild (and the other members of the caucus - editor) asked Biden to remove “In God we trust” from our currency. She asked him to avoid using the terms “Judeo-Christian values” and “God and Country.” The Latin form of “For God and Country,” “Pro deo et patria,” was my Army Corps motto during my deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our hometowns have always welcomed neighbors of varying faiths and no faith. We’ve done so because, not in spite, of the fact that we’ve had a rich spiritual heritage. The Bible allows and protects the freewill of man. Christian influence benefits everyone in the community.

I am grieved that under my generation’s watch, Coplay’s leadership uninvited the manger of Jesus from public property, and I am ashamed that Susan Wild, representative in the U.S. House, is pressing for more secularization at the national level. I believe we have a responsibility in November to vote, saying no further erosion of values on our watch. Join me.

Graham Hantz

Stamford, Conn. (formerly of Coplay)

(Editor’s note: The reference to the request by the Secular Democrats of America can be found on pages 16-17 at https://seculardems.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/SecularDemocratsofAmerica_Blueprint_BidenHarrisTransition_11-30-20_FINAL.pdf.)