Letters to the Editor | Feb. 4, 2026

In response to Sen. John Fetterman’s claim that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wear masks because they fear doxing, perhaps he should ask himself why police departments don’t wear masks or share those same fears.

When law enforcement follows the Constitution, they have little to fear from the law-abiding public, and they earn the respect required to do their jobs. If ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped circumventing the Constitution and started upholding it, they wouldn’t need to hide behind masks.

Colleen Dunn, Bethlehem

I would like to inform Sen. John Fetterman that if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcemen agents did not murder legal protesters, did not use tear gas on legal protesters, did not hunt down and brutalize people who try to document their illegal acts, and arrest legal citizens and children from the streets (even when they have documents on their person that prove citizenship), then they would not have to fear doxing. If ICE agents were to follow the law and treat the public with respect, they would not have to worry about having their identities revealed.

Edward Gardella, Langhorne

As our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should not only celebrate our freedoms — we should also remember the faith that helped shape them. William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a “Holy Experiment,” a colony built on Christian principles of justice, peace, and love of neighbor. Long before 1776, Penn wrote and spoke passionately for religious tolerance and freedom of conscience in England, even at great personal risk, facing imprisonment and threats of death. His vision of liberty of conscience, fair laws, and respect for all people was groundbreaking and helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become the United States Constitution.

In 1751, to mark 50 years of this Holy Experiment, the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned John Pass and John Stow to cast a bell. Inscribed with the words of Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof,” the bell celebrated the enduring connection between faith and freedom that Penn championed. This bell, later known as the Liberty Bell, remains a powerful symbol of liberty rooted in moral conviction.

If liberty is to endure today, we should revisit Penn’s faith, grounded beyond himself, where love of God and neighbor produced a durable, shared freedom together.

The Rev. Pete Linko, McDonald Bible Methodist Church, McDonald, Pa.

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