Thursday, December 22, 2011
Displays of the Nativity Scene
Nativity Scenes on Public Property
Both churches and private citizens erect nativity displays on their own property at Christmas time. Some are even enactments with live people in the traditional roles. There is one of these two blocks from my home, facing a public park and on a public street. Does anyone object to this display of religious belief?
What, then, to a viewer is the difference whether the display is on public property, exactly next to public property and quite viewable by all, and its residing on public property itself? Merely the suggestion that the religion is accepted by the owner of the property, namely the government.
It says nothing about other religions, of course, and from the viewer’s point of view, there is no knowledge imparted whatsoever regarding the government’s acceptance or non-acceptance of other religions, unless there are other displays from other religions there also. For that you must read the Constitution, where other religions are clearly given acceptance.
I find it quite silly indeed for some overly-reacting people to rise up to deny such displays on public property in a nation that is 80+% Christian. The same silliness has been openly expressed about crosses being prominently displayed on church steeples throughout a city. Just how far will they go with this idea that viewing something from public property is the same as advocating something? We might as well be influenced to worship Ford or Toyota, or Colgate Toothpaste, or the Crystal Palace, or the Democratic Party, they are certainly displayed prominently, if distastefully, on TV stations (public airways licensed by the government) and in public advertising, but just not on public property per se! There is a great distance between accepting something which is good passively (out of a set of those somethings also formally accepted) and advocating something actively.
Both churches and private citizens erect nativity displays on their own property at Christmas time. Some are even enactments with live people in the traditional roles. There is one of these two blocks from my home, facing a public park and on a public street. Does anyone object to this display of religious belief?
What, then, to a viewer is the difference whether the display is on public property, exactly next to public property and quite viewable by all, and its residing on public property itself? Merely the suggestion that the religion is accepted by the owner of the property, namely the government.
It says nothing about other religions, of course, and from the viewer’s point of view, there is no knowledge imparted whatsoever regarding the government’s acceptance or non-acceptance of other religions, unless there are other displays from other religions there also. For that you must read the Constitution, where other religions are clearly given acceptance.
I find it quite silly indeed for some overly-reacting people to rise up to deny such displays on public property in a nation that is 80+% Christian. The same silliness has been openly expressed about crosses being prominently displayed on church steeples throughout a city. Just how far will they go with this idea that viewing something from public property is the same as advocating something? We might as well be influenced to worship Ford or Toyota, or Colgate Toothpaste, or the Crystal Palace, or the Democratic Party, they are certainly displayed prominently, if distastefully, on TV stations (public airways licensed by the government) and in public advertising, but just not on public property per se! There is a great distance between accepting something which is good passively (out of a set of those somethings also formally accepted) and advocating something actively.
Labels: Christianity, Church versus State
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