Ah, Utah.

[theweaselking]

One kooky religious display in a public park: Okay. Different kooky religious display in a public park: Not okay.

Fight!

Comments

[bodandra.livejournal.com]

It sounds as though these things are concerning golf.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

But Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, who was representing Pleasant Grove, countered that "when the government is speaking, it is free from the traditional free speech constraints of the First Amendment."

The Supreme Court needs to install a dunking tank and force lawyers to stand on the platform when they're arguing. I mean, you're such an uber-lawyer that you get to argue before the Supreme Court, and yet you don't know that THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS PRECISELY ABOUT CONSTRAINING GOVERNMENT ACTIONS?

[kadath.livejournal.com]

The ACLJ is the litigation wing of Pat Robertson's Christian loonball empire. Don't expect incisive legal scholarship from them.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Why did he go there instead of a real school in the first place?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Is he likely to tell you if you ask him?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Is he dead? Are you not speaking? Do I have a terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease today?

[zdallin.livejournal.com]

Glad I wasn't the only one that was marveling at that statement *rolls eyes*

[anivair.livejournal.com]

the government shouldn't be putting the ten commandments up anyway, by most modern accounts.

And if they did, then certainly the Summum have a right to be supported as well.

OTOH, saying "no we won't put your lame commandments up in our park" is not denying them any rights at all. Not supporting their faith is not the same as prohibiting or denying it.

I'd say take own the ten commandments and shut everyone up. That's the reason laws like this exist. Because the alternative is to have a park called "the park of religious laws, pictures, and good ideas" where any religion can put their holy crap up for all to see.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jeremiad/]

Spaghetti!

[anivair.livejournal.com]

word.

[jerril]

Because the alternative is to have a park called "the park of religious laws, pictures, and good ideas" where any religion can put their holy crap up for all to see.

You know, there's something to be said for that idea... It intrigues and amuses me.

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

It would probably make for some bitchin skating.

[dianavilliers.livejournal.com]

There were one thousand, two hundred and eighty-three religious books in there now, each one - according to itself - the only book any man ever need read. It was sort of nice to see them all together.

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

I only made it to "the group's founder, Summum 'Corky' Ra" before laughing.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Which just shows how silly putting up the 10 commandment monument was in the first place - because if you put that up then your arguments against putting up religious monuments from other faiths look weak - and you can bet the religious wrong doesn't like that

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised they don't argue the movie-promotion angle. If the new displays promote a new movie, they should be okay, right?

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

I, occasionally, forget that despite his partisan leanings, Roberts is a pretty damn good lawyer.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Freedom of Religion only means freedom for Christians to believe their different wacky versions of Christianity. It doesn't apply to everyone else, you know.

I'm surprised no one has complained about the version of 10 commandments, b/c there are variants. Also I was under the impression that the gov't would usually rather bow out and not get into debates over what religions to allow or not allow, instead opting to just disallow ALL religions from public property. Though I admit that could be an antiquated idea to the current US administration (we will have to party when they're gone).

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

From the article:

Central to Summum are the aphorisms, which the group believes were inscribed on the original stone tablets handed down by God to Moses. According to this account, Moses found that the Israelites were incapable of understanding the principles. So he destroyed the tablets, revealed the aphorisms to only a select few and returned to Mount Sinai to receive a second set of tablets -- the Ten Commandments.

Remember, always make backup copies!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I'm amused that one of said aphorisms appears to be a modification of the occult principle "As above, so below", which so far as I'm aware, is Arabic in origin and dates to the 10th century. Heh.

Of course, the 10th-century phrasing is a bit different; I don't know that rendering it specifically as "As above, so below" can be traced prior to the 20th.

[sanityimpaired.livejournal.com]

Question: If the first amendment limits the ability of the US government to sling about religion, why do the vast majority of coins they've produced since 1864 have "In God We Trust" stamped on them? Particularly given that the First Amendment was amended in 1791.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Because the religious morons of the time were numerous enough to make the "it's not establishment of religion if we don't say WHICH Christian subcult we're establishing" argument stick.

Same thing with "under God" in the Pledge Of Allegiance, which was added by the McCarthyite religious morons.