Church and State

* Re “Shaving Is His Protest Against Coercion,” Religion, May 10: There are a number of religious groups right here in the U.S. that, if they had legislative power, would happily express their divinely inspired rules by coercing the rest of us into their beliefs. Tolerance is regarded as an evil by many faiths. A nation’s only protection against the kind of zealotry described in this article lies in the separation of church and state.

EMILY S. ADELSOHN