Glenn E. Meyer, I understand your argument and as far as the display of any religious symbol, does it by itself, in the display attempt to teach, proclaim, or profess anything other than the fact that it is there, anymore that driving down the road and seeing a billboard, displaying a product, for sale or use, do you feel threatened by this form of display, I should think not, but because it is a Religious Symbol it is totally taboo.
And you stated that as long as the thing was not promoted by the School, or the Factuality, it was OK, but by the same token that isn’t a true statement, because there have been times when the tradition of saying a Prayer before a sporting event at a School has been banned as Unconstitutional because of the Separation of Church and State, and the simple act of a moment of silence for a Prayer is or at least has been Taboo, yet the Congress of this Country open every session with a Prayer, as so do the Senate and the Proceedings of the Supreme Court, so it is to me a whole lot of Hypocrisy going on here in this issue, and the fact that the people that profess to be Atheist in this country have raised a lot of issues that are in some cases OK but in others Not, point in question was the Pledge of Allegiance, if a student or Citizen chooses not to recite the Pledge it is perfectly aright, they have the right to refrain, But they do not have the right to cause or to implement the rewriting if said Pledge because they don’t like it, which goes along with the Minority raising issue with long standing Symbols used by City, State, and Federal Governments to be changed because the voice of the Few feel it goes against the things the do or do not believe in.
As to the display of any Religious Symbol in any Public Place I personally find no problem with this concept, just because it is displayed is not an intimidating factor that I can see in fact it may be in fact a good thing as some may wonder what this or that is all about, it may even encourage people to find out about a different religion to see what the other people believe in and maybe just maybe have a better understanding of those people nut I know that this practice is not recommended by the different Faiths as they are afraid they will loose their congregation to the other side.
I agree that it is not the responsibility of the State to remind our children of their Faith nut Neither should it deny access to it, as granted by the First Amendment, Before you get all upset, I am not saying that the School should teach Religion as a doctrine. Along these same lines I don’t think it is Right to teach Evolution with out the Counter to it, yet it is permitted today in many school systems, Knowledge is a valuable tool to the student but not when it is spoon-fed and only teaching those things that are to the public liking in regard to honest subject matter, like omitting facts from the History books as if they no longer are a part of history anymore, but that is totally a different subject.
I don’t see one faith dominating the Schools with the exception of the Religious based schools, what I do see is a large degree of the lack of confidence in the American People to lack the ability to recognize the difference between a simple display of a thing as opposed to the actual teaching of the demand to learn of a ting simply because it has been displayed before them, I would rather hold to the idea that the American People are mature enough to understand that they are not being forced to be anything against their will, and if they are intimidated by the simple display of an object regardless of what it is then I truly feel sorry for them.
“If you are ready to have a picture of Vishnu or Satan next to the Cross, Star and Crescent - say that here”. It would not bother me in the least, so bring it on they don’t intimidate me in any way shape or form!
No one had a problem with the tree or the menorah.