“On a manicured lawn within the grounds of the Arkansas state capital in Little Rock a Nativity scene is erected each advent. It is causing all sorts of problems. Shouldn’t other religions (or, for that matter, those who reject organised religion altogether) get their chance to show off? Doesn’t the display amount to a violation of the canonical separation of religion and politics.
…
The Arkansas Freethinkers do not want the Little Rock Nativity scene removed. They simply want the state to set up a “free-speech zone” and let them be part of it. Some say this will lead to chaos. In Olympia, Washington, the capitol’s all-inclusive free-speech zone became hopelessly overcrowded. Even the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster mounted a display.”
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From an article titled “No crib for a bed” in the Dec. 5th - 11th 2009 issue of The Economist. So good to see that everyone is solving the big problems. This article followed several pages of extremely bleak reporting on U.S. economic prospects. (via alexjcampbell)
The Freethinkers sound a bit crazy, yes, but it’s a thing to love about America, that there are people who care so much about the need to keep church and state separate and to take the fight to the mat (or to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster). And I say this as a former seven-year-old who belonged to no religious group and spearheaded a vehement protest-of-one when we sang songs about God in my (public) school music class, because it was in violation of the First Amendment.
