In the recent article in the Sun about the six senators that hold the key to the gay marriage bill ("Undeclared lawmakers to decide fate of gay marriage," Feb. 6) I found the statement, "Religion has loomed large in the debate," to be particularly chilling. It's as if the concept of separation between church and state is some figment of our imagination.

Some legislators are deeply involved in their churches and thus vote according to what the church dictates. Another referred to her "upbringing" and was ambivalent at the time of this article time due to the fact that she now has more friends who are gay and has discovered that they are no different that she. Wow! How enlightened she's become. However, she still doesn't know how she's going to vote.

I want my representatives to vote according to the principles of equality that have built the state and country we live in today. I don't want them checking with the Bible, voting according to religious upbringing, or what their religious leader tells them is the gospel. If they need their religion as a reason to vote a particular way, then maybe they need to recuse themselves from voting on issues such as this.

Barbara Blumberg, Baltimore