I am astonished and appalled that you chose to publish Jim Scharnagel's reprehensible letter arguing for the exclusion of, and presumably expulsion of, Muslims from the United States based on the premise that they constitute a danger to non-Muslims.

Would you have published a letter urging the deportation of all young black men due to their documented higher rate of conviction for crimes? Or perhaps a letter urging the deportation of all legal Catholic Hispanics because their higher birth rate burdens the schools and the medical systems?

Not only did the letter urge an abolition of freedom of religious practice and display an egregious lack of common sense (since if Muslims were banned, surely Muslim extremists would make themselves look and act just like everyone else), it also slandered an entire religious population based on the actions of a few. This is no different from holding all Christians accountable for the ethnic cleansing slaughters practiced by alleged "Christians" in Rwanda or in Mali or holding all Jews accountable for the death of Christ.

Mr. Scharnagel is entitled to his opinions and can say what he likes, a right guaranteed in the same Bill of Rights he wishes to abrogate. You, however, have a standard to serve the public welfare, which this did not. You should be ashamed of yourselves, as I am ashamed for you.

Ron Walker
Gainesville