Ambassador to Vatican

The Rev. Richard Land, head of a Southern Baptist agency, is protesting the U.S. ambassadorship to the Vatican (“Drop Vatican Envoy, Clinton Urged,” Dec. 12). Mr. Land sees this as a grievous wrong and urges President-elect Clinton to “strike a blow” for separation of church and state.

For his information, the Constitution guards against the establishment of a church/state religion. Every session of our Congress is opened with a prayer by its own chaplain. The military has had a chaplaincy for over 200 years with chapel and chaplain on every base and ship. Also, the head chaplain was, for many years, a Catholic priest.

Will the Rev. Land include England, where the official religion is the Anglican church, in his purge? I think this suggestion is blatantly weak and biased.

BILL DUTTON

Seal Beach