[NYTr] Media: Columnists Back FFRF Seasonal Complaints Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:03:30 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Freedom from Religion Foundation - Dec 18, 2007 http://www.ffrf.org Prominent columnists in Madison, Wis., wrote rather heartwarming articles last weekend backing the Freedom From Religion Foundation's work at this time of year to keep religion out of government. 1. William Wineke, Wisconsin State Journal, in his firm column, "Public Spots Are No Place for Church Symbols," Dec. 15, writes: "One thing the Freedom From Religion Foundation has done to the lasting benefit of us all, I think, is to raise a stink whenever government tries to use public money or public property to promote one religion or another." 2. Capital Times editor in chief Dave Zweifel, in "U.S. built with NO religion" (which ran in the Sunday, Dec. 16 Wisconsin State Journal) noted: "The most unpopular people in Madison this time of the year have got to be the folks who operate the Freedom From Religion Foundation... judging from the letters I read and the e-mails I get, many people completely misunderstand the organization's motives. What the Freedom From Religion Foundation people do object to -- in fact, what most Americans, including those with devout religious beliefs, ought to object to -- is when public property and resources are used to push a religious cause. "There's nothing politically correct about supporting the separation of church and state. It's simply what it has always meant to be an American." *** Wisconsin State Journal - Dec 15, 2007 http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2007/12/15/0712140327.php Public Spots Are No Place For Church Symbols by William Wineke The president of the Green Bay City Council is using his own money to put a nativity scene atop one of the entrances to that community's city hall. President Chad Fradette told a committee he believes the Constitution upholds citizens' rights to display symbols of their religious beliefs on public property so long as the symbols are not paid for with tax money and so long as other faiths are not excluded. To hear Fradette tell it, he's sticking a finger in the eye of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison's organization for atheists and agnostics. I wish him luck. I think the idea that, if you have enough money, you can plug your god on public property is a fascinating concept. I just wonder how accepting Fradette will be if other faiths take him up on the idea. If Fradette can use his own funds to put a nativity scene over one door to City Hall, then there is no logical reason why a Buddhist couldn't erect a statue of a corpulent Buddha over another door. We can be reasonably sure the Muslims won't want a statue of Mohammed because Muslims take the biblical prohibition of graven images seriously. But what is Fradette going to do if some Satanists decide the city should host an image of the evil one himself? And what is he going to do if some Scientologist decides Green Bay could benefit from a statue of that church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard? The real problem with religious precedents is that they establish precedent. Somehow, we've gotten ourselves convinced that "religion" means Catholic/Protestant/Jew. That was never completely true in our society in the past, and it is an absolutely inadequate definition today. Madison is home to a large Buddhist community - the Dalai Lama stops by every few years. We are a city with a substantial Muslim population. We have our fair share of Wiccans. One thing the Freedom From Religion Foundation has done to the lasting benefit of us all, I think, is to raise a stink whenever government tries to use public money or public property to promote one religion or another. That frustrates us when we want a creche scene in public parks, but it also keeps devil-worshippers from erecting statues of goats. If Fradette is successful in his effort, however, all bets are off. If all it takes to legalize a public display of religion is private financing, then our public buildings and public parks will soon become obstacle courses of monuments to God - or god. Personally, I think it is nuts. Green Bay is home to lots and lots of Christian churches. I think a good place for nativity scenes is on the front lawns of those churches. The reason there was an original nativity scene, after all, was not that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to worship. They were ordered to Bethlehem by an unpopular government and they weren't too welcome when they arrived. Putting a nativity scene at the very center of a city government may not be the best way to recall the original reason for the season. *** Capital Times - December 17, 2007 http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/editorial/262514 U.S. built with NO religion by Dave Zweifel The most unpopular people in Madison this time of the year have got to be the folks who operate the Freedom From Religion Foundation. They've taken it upon themselves, most notably through their leader Annie Laurie Gaylor, to police religious symbols and observances on government property, insisting that to invoke religion in places that belong to all the people is a usurpation of the Founding Fathers' insistence that church and state be separate. They sue to get Nativity scenes removed from municipal parks and demand that evergreen trees displayed in state capitols be called something other than a Christmas tree. I don't always agree with the tactics the group uses. Often, it needs to choose its targets more selectively instead of using a shotgun when a rifle would do. But, judging from the letters I read and the e-mails I get, many people completely misunderstand the organization's motives. Far as I know, neither Gaylor nor any of her colleagues in the foundation are opposed to religious observances or symbols. What churches, people or businesses do on their own property is perfectly fine with them. Yet they unfairly get blamed when a business takes it upon itself to wish folks a happy holiday instead of Merry Christmas, perhaps out of deference to its customers of varied faiths. What the Freedom From Religion Foundation people do object to -- in fact, what most Americans, including those with devout religious beliefs, ought to object to -- is when public property and resources are used to push a religious cause. Although a surprising number of people believe so -- perhaps they missed that part during American history classes -- the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. We're not Saudi Arabia, Iran or any of the many other countries that do, indeed, have a state-sponsored religion. That's a difference that even Mitt Romney, the Mormon who is running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, doesn't understand. Last week in his much ballyhooed press conference to explain how his Mormonism won't dictate how he acts as president, he claimed that "our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people." No, Mitt, it wasn't. The U.S. Constitution contains not one word in favor of religion. As columnist Steve Chapman pointed out in the Chicago Tribune last Sunday, John Adams, who was instrumental in putting together that Constitution, stipulated in a 1796 treaty he signed as president that the United States government "is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Further, the national charter says that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office." Many of those original Americans ran away from Europe because they were told how to worship. They came here to worship as they pleased -- or to not worship at all if that's how they felt. Government could just keep its nose out. And that's as it should be. Every American is free to be just as Christian or Jewish or Muslim or agnostic or atheist as he or she likes. Those who contend candidates need to pass a religious test or that city halls ought to display Merry Christmas banners or a Nativity scene quite frankly don't understand the principles on which this country was founded. There are too many countries in this world, after all, that do demand religious obedience on the part of their leaders and their people. Last I looked they have terrible track records dealing with their neighbors or the rest of the world. There's nothing politically correct about supporting the separation of church and state. It's simply what it has always meant to be an American. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================