This is America!
Religion has recaptured the public square in Bartow, Florida:
BARTOW, Florida (AP) -- When a Florida church group put a Nativity scene on public property, officials warned it might open the door to other religious -- and not-so-religious -- displays. They were right.
Since the Nativity was erected in Polk County, displays have gone up honoring Zoroastrianism and the fake holiday Festivus, featured on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld."
The Church group that erected the Nativity set--which I am quite sure professes a belief in the Virgin Birth--is not objecting to anything:
"The real spirit of Christmas is the birth of Christ," said Marvin Pittman, a retired law enforcement officer and member of the congregation. "We felt it needs to be in the public eye, so we did it."
Other displays are fine, too, he said, adding, "If somebody wants to do that, it's their right."
How about that for American religious tolerance? This is a long tradition that stretches back to George Washington's letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport in 1790. The ACLU, however, would have nothing of it:
Richard Blank, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, objected to the Nativity scene's presence on public property, arguing it violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
"The Nativity scene is totally celebratory of the birth of Christ," he said. "Not everyone subscribes to that, and those who do should put it on their own property."
I'm not with the ACLU on this one. The city of Bastow has not taken steps to set up an official "Municipal Religion," and this spirit of religious pluralism--non-syncretistic, mutually respectful, peaceful--is something you don't find in most places in the world. Where else can you have sucha situation as this, and not end up in violence? Certainly not in Iraq, where the tension between different Muslim sects is threatening to stall the elections. In the United States, not only have Protestants and Catholics come together, but even Zoroastrians and Seinfeld fans can have a piece of the public pie.
There are still those that say that this type of pluralistic set up is conducive to unrest and violence (Cf. the scarf ban in France) or that it leads to epistemological and moral relativism (Cf. some religious thinkers). Call me idealistic, but I'm for it.
Religion has recaptured the public square in Bartow, Florida:
BARTOW, Florida (AP) -- When a Florida church group put a Nativity scene on public property, officials warned it might open the door to other religious -- and not-so-religious -- displays. They were right.
Since the Nativity was erected in Polk County, displays have gone up honoring Zoroastrianism and the fake holiday Festivus, featured on the TV sitcom "Seinfeld."
The Church group that erected the Nativity set--which I am quite sure professes a belief in the Virgin Birth--is not objecting to anything:
"The real spirit of Christmas is the birth of Christ," said Marvin Pittman, a retired law enforcement officer and member of the congregation. "We felt it needs to be in the public eye, so we did it."
Other displays are fine, too, he said, adding, "If somebody wants to do that, it's their right."
How about that for American religious tolerance? This is a long tradition that stretches back to George Washington's letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport in 1790. The ACLU, however, would have nothing of it:
Richard Blank, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, objected to the Nativity scene's presence on public property, arguing it violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
"The Nativity scene is totally celebratory of the birth of Christ," he said. "Not everyone subscribes to that, and those who do should put it on their own property."
I'm not with the ACLU on this one. The city of Bastow has not taken steps to set up an official "Municipal Religion," and this spirit of religious pluralism--non-syncretistic, mutually respectful, peaceful--is something you don't find in most places in the world. Where else can you have sucha situation as this, and not end up in violence? Certainly not in Iraq, where the tension between different Muslim sects is threatening to stall the elections. In the United States, not only have Protestants and Catholics come together, but even Zoroastrians and Seinfeld fans can have a piece of the public pie.
There are still those that say that this type of pluralistic set up is conducive to unrest and violence (Cf. the scarf ban in France) or that it leads to epistemological and moral relativism (Cf. some religious thinkers). Call me idealistic, but I'm for it.