Chad at CCK makes a very good argument against public religious displays. A religious group hitherto unknown to me (and perhaps existing only for political purposes) insists that it be allowed "to erect a monument enumerating the Seven Aphorisms, principles they say underlie creation and nature, [along side] a public memorial that includes the Ten Commandments." The problem here is not the one so often insisted on by liberals-that a city cannot endorse a specific religion. The problem is that government entities must be even handed when dispensing privileges and access, so if one Christian sect or alliance of sects can erect the Decalogue, any other sect would have to be allowed to share the public space.
Because I agree with Chad that this is a problem, I think it is a good idea to keep religion out of public schools. If that Satanist who danced on President Reagan's grave should turn out to be a public school teacher, I would have him keep his religious opinions to himself when in the classroom.
But I think that public displays are another matter. America is a place of enormous religious diversity. Why not celebrate it by allowing public space for any and all comers? Provided that any display be privately financed, let them erect what they want to erect. Maybe I should rephrase that.
Of course some religious displays may include things that are offensive for reasons of public morality. By this I mean not sex, but anti-semitism or the endorsement of terrorism. Fine. Let folks see whats on the minds of their fellows. If Catholics or Jews think they have the right religion, then they should have faith that their site will ultimately draw the larger crowd. That way no one could argue that religion has been chased out of the public arena.
One of my favorite spiritual authorities, the Zen priest Suzuki Roshi, said that the best way to manage a spirited animal is to give it a large pasture to roam in. I'm not sure if this is a sound principle of livestock management, but I'm pretty sure its what liberal democracy is all about.
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