Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I hope you all recognize that as the First Amendment. It's come under scrutiny in Green Bay, WI recently as City Hall was displaying a Nativity scene. The display has now added a Wiccan symbol, and just three days ago, the City of Green Bay voted to keep the Nativity display.
Now, as I understand the First Amendment, it means that Congress cannot make laws that establish a national religion, and it also cannot make laws that prohibit the free practice of religion.
With the City Hall display, I do see why they should not only display a Nativity scene. But, what if at the beginning of Hanukkah, a menorah was displayed? What if Kwanzaa symbols were displayed at the beginning of that holiday? Or Pagan symbols displayed on the solstices? Or Islamic displays during Ramadan? To me, displaying symbols of multiple religions is neither establishing a national religion nor inhibiting the free practice of any given religion.
The First Amendment has too often lately been used to completely eliminate religion from our country. It's "freedom OF religion", not "freedom FROM religion." And that means that the state can respect multiple beliefs without favoring one over the other.
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Or Pagan symbols displayed on the solstices?
That's what the Pentacle was. Though, it's been taken down now and Schmidt has refused to allow any symbol save the Nativity scene to be placed.
http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20071220142944147
I agree with you. Putting up symbols of various faiths is fine. But, that's no longer the case here and that I don't agree with.
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Soar high and laugh on the wind
~Fallon~
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."- Thoreau
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I know that's what the Pentacle was. I was merely trying to mention various beliefs in my entry.
I think it's perfectly fine to display only the Nativity scene at Christmas time, as long as during other religious holidays, the symbols of those other religions are displayed.
Ehm... displaying the Pentacle would have been the correct time. Yule (or the Winter Solstice) was the 21st.
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Soar high and laugh on the wind
~Fallon~
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."- Thoreau
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I think what you don't understand is that I'm not talking just about Paganism, or Christianity. You're arguing the details with me, when all I am saying is that for ANY given religion, it should be okay for public buildings to display religious symbols as long as all are treated equally. Also, from my understanding, the Solstice is a short celebration, not like Advent is for Christians.
I merely pointed out that it didn't really make sense to only allow the Nativity scene at Christmastime because Yule just passed as well. And it's not really allowing for all celebrations when the Pentacle wreath was damaged and they refused to allow it to be put back up, choosing instead to allow only the Nativity scene. It should be all or none. In this case, however, that isn't what you have.
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Soar high and laugh on the wind
~Fallon~
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."- Thoreau
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Why should any public service buildings be displaying anything at all?
Not that I'm necessarily against the displays, but it's not like the buildings are celebrating anything. But to display *anything* gives the impression that they are celebrating that one thing.
Displaying one thing looks exclusive, to display them all looks pathetic. Especially on a City Hall or other local government-type building... The first amendment doesn't cover holiday decorations, it covers, as you stated, practice and celebration. It's saying, "you can practice and celebrate whatever you want, and no one can pass a law saying that you can't." It does not say "Government buildings should be decorated accordingly..."
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence
Where I live, everyone [as in business, gov't, and public service buildings] displays holiday decorations. They don't represent any one faith, they just kind of represent the season.
There are lights on all the buildings, the city building has giant red ribbons wrapped around the white columns in the front (that look like candy canes) and there are lighted trees, snowmen, and grinch figures everywhere. (okay, maybe the grinch says "Christmas," but you get what I'm saying.)
I feel like what they have up here isn't offensive to anyone, and that's probably why you haven't seen Lakewood, WA on the news for offending people with holiday decorations ;)
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If You Swear That There's No Truth And Who Cares, How Come You Say It Like You're Right? [Bright Eyes]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
Too many people use this ammendment to try to remove religion from the country completely, which was never intended when the ammendment was written.