Dear Editor,

My creed is the same as Thomas Paine’s: “The world is my country. All mankind are my brethren. To do good is my religion.”

I am a Humanist. I believe in science — not faith.

I love the United States of America as proved by my serving three years in the U.S. Navy and over seven years as an elected official. However, I must say my country continues to have several, severe human rights defects.

I believe it is the duty of the true patriot not to say “my country right or wrong,” but rather to work, very hard, to help resolve America’s human rights defects by helping to see America lives up to its Constitution and its creed: protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I have always been deeply disturbed by America’s history of slavery and Jim Crow, and of the near genocide of Native Americans. I do believe America has come a long way and is moving to correct these racial defects, but that we still have a long way to go as witnessed by the racism that still haunts America, and the new vitriolic attacks on Islam.

I am proud of America for rescuing the world from the horrors of World Wars I and II, where a total of 75 million were killed. But I am appalled that we used two atomic bombs and fire bombing to kill over 1 million people, most of them innocent, many of them children.

I acknowledge America has also done many wonderful things since the end of World War II, including the Marshal Plan to rebuild Europe and by establishing many great advances in science and medicine.

However, from the time of the use of atomic bombs to end World War II, patriotism in America has been dangerously arrogant and self-serving. America has become very militaristic — and in many ways a terrorist nation as witnessed by America’s daily bombing in the Middle East.

America’s major role in fighting the Cold War where tens of millions died, over 3 million in Vietnam alone, was based on delusion. International Communism was never the threat America made it out to be in its irrational paranoia.

During the Cold War America built the greatest nuclear arsenal, leading nine other countries to also develop their own potential nuclear nightmare.

Also, why do we have 800 military bases around the world? Why does America spend more than the eight other largest-spending countries (Russia, China, England, France, India, Israel and Saudi Arabia) combined? Why is America building 2,500 F35 fighter planes at 100 million per copy? Why in the world are we still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why is America by far the largest arms dealer in the world? Why did President Trump just sell to the Saudis’ $100 billion of arms for presumed use in the Middle East tender box?

And let’s be honest about the sectarian struggle between Christianity and Islam if we are to resolve America’s racism defect.

During the 20th century about 100 million people were killed mostly by Christians, while about 3 million were killed by mostly Muslims.

Two U. S.-led coalition airstrikes on May 18 and 19 killed 106 people. In these two days alone, coalition airstrikes on the city of Mayadeen in Iraq killed 47 children, and the rest of the victims, the vast majority, were women.

On 22 May 2017, a suicide bombing that killed 22 was carried out by a Muslim at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, following a concert by American singer Ariana Grande.

These two horrible incidents alone clearly demonstrate the moral equivalence of the sectarian battle between Christians and Muslims.

We must accept that everyone in the world has a right, as any other, to liberty and justice. Besides human decency, human survival is at stake, perhaps more than at any other time.

Bill Bryant

St. Clairsville