I’m more of a lurker.

You want a Christmas tableau on the common in front of Town Hall? Fine, you can have it – but no baby-Jesus-in-a-manger bullshit. You have to have a painting or a sculpture of God casting untold billions into hell, while the Christians stand around laughing and jeering.

(of course, they could have made it fit the doctrine more and had him flinging a little muslim kid into the fires of hell)

Oh, I love it! FSM bless you Larry – seriously.

Anyone who disagrees can try to prove me wrong…but before you do, read the Constitution…where there is a cavernous LACK of god…and then read the federalist and anti-federalist papers…throw in the writings of Jefferson and Madison for good measure.

Of course you can find people…individuals…who disagreed. But…in the official records listed above…and the writings of those two men who were most involved in our founding…you will find nothing but disdain for religion. You will not find one case where our founders intended for religion to have ANY part in our government.

That includes paying for stupid statues of jesus loving the little children…(of course, they could have made it fit the doctrine more and had him flinging a little muslim kid into the fires of hell)…The money spent on the statue…no matter how ‘nice’ religious people think it will be to have it in their town, would be far better spent on a teacher’s raise or some new text books, or road repair. Because we need those things. No one…even the religious…NEEDS a statue of jesus in their town. Go home and look upon the graven image (ooops…statues of your god were forbidden in your 10 commandments anyway…how about that?) of your precious jesus.

…it is art, not religious.

And…the bible is just a book. And the 10 commandments is just a tablet with writing on it…

…and a stake is just a piece of wood, until the christians get more control, and then there are oh so many uses when placed amid fire.

Nope…sorry. If the slippery slope that I portray seems extreme, it is not. It is the same fear our founders had that caused them to very vocally provide a seperation between church and state.

You see…our founders were alive in the late 1700’s…and the last official execution of the inquisition took place in Mexico City (by the authority of the pope), where 12 ‘infidels’ were executed for speaking blasphamy…in the early 1800’s. Some 40 years after our nations birth. They were burned at the stake, I will add.

So you see…our nations founding didn’t really take place after all of that mess…it was still going on. Our founders knew better than any of us just how dangerous it was to allow religion to have control.

When you read their strong words of warning about religion playing a part in government…it is not idle. They knew first hand the torment and misery religion would cause if it got a foothold and so they acted appropriately and kept it from creeping in.

Anyone who thinks we needn’t have this fear anymore…only has to consider that the biblical verses that supported the murderous rampage the church went on for several centuries, are still right there in the bible. Unchanged…waiting for the right leader to come along and spur the faithful into action once more.

The mayor of Edmund, Okla. announced the city will not go along with the Edmond Visual Arts Commission’s decision to fund this sculpture with taxpayer money, according to a report from the Associated Press.

“We’re not looking for a lawsuit,” Edmond Mayor Dan O’Neil said.

O’Neil said only private funding will go toward the statue.

Anyone think they’ve learned their lesson?

It seems that the mayor has, at least on a practical level. That’s a start.

~David D.G.

The best thing to come out of religion has been the art. The music! The frescas! The ceilings! I don’t believe in gods, but I think the metaphor of myth is fecund with prompts for really good art. But if they’re going to lie about it then they shouldn’t get funded.

Replace “religion” with “recreational drugs” and you’ll find that euphoria and delusions have often produced amazing art and music.

Different century, different drugs…