"CalifBill" wrote in message
m...

"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
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wrote in message
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On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 11:07:07 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

"CalifBill" wrote in message
news:PoqdnbCgSJ_Du1PXnZ2dnUVZ_vydnZ2d@earthlin k.com...

"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
...
"CalifBill" wrote in message
m...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
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On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 21:59:42 -0700, "CalifBill"
wrote:

Let religion put up a
cross, menora, etc on public property. The people own the
property.

How would you feel about Muslim or Rastafarian religious symbols in
your town square?

The problem is that once you start you can't say no to the next
group,
and you can't say no to bigger and better.


Since I am an semi agnostic married to a Catholic, I can accept all
religions putting up displays in the town square. I was married by
a
Monsignor in a Catholic Church with a JW best man, and a Jewish
usher.
Locally the Jewish community puts up a Menorah during their
holidays,
and Christians put up Christmas Displays during their holidays, and
we
have had different religions also. Seems to work fine. I believe
there
may be a higher power, but not sure what it is. May be the Flying
Spaghetti Monster.



Who gets to decide what symbol gets put up? You can say... oh, let
the
locals decided, but how do you deal with the various minority views
that
are inevitable? It can't be a simple majority, because it's the
obligation of the majority to protect the rights of the minority. If
you
put a cross or spire, you're basically promoting a religion, which
without much of a stretch is prohibiting others from doing so. You're
taking sides. The simplest thing to do is to prohibit all symbols.

--
Nom=de=Plume


You have an established religion, put up your symbols for your
holiday.
Simple. Does not matter what religion. As long as it gets a
religious
tax ID, go for it. The people own the public lands, not the
government!
We own the government. Does not seem that way these days, but maybe
if we
get serious and vote out those owned by lobbiests, we will get OUR
governments back.

An established religion? A tax ID? Sounds like it's government promoting
religion by giving tax breaks and determining who can and can't claim to
be
part of a religious order.

I'm not in favor of any tax breaks for religions. If they can stand on
their
own, fine. If not, too bad.

Actually, Em, your attitude is not too far removed from the concerns
that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had about government
sponsorship of particular Christian denominations in the granting of
subsidies. This is what lead to the Statute of Virginia for religious
freedom which was authored by Jefferson and was the precurser to the
Constitutional Amendment.


Nice crowd to be part of... It just urks me that (for example) the
Catholic Church can own whole swaths of buildings, and they don't have to
pay a dime in tax.

--
Nom=de=Plume


But they do charitable work.

So? Their buildings don't do anything. The mega-churches are the same...
should have tax-exempt status.

--
Nom=de=Plume