'Tis The Season to Revisit the Ongoing Battle
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'Tis The Season to Revisit the Ongoing Battle
Recently, on The Witches Voice Facebook page, there was an article about the bickering that's already starting with regard to who gets to put what sort of decoration on the Court House lawn for the holidays. I was a little distressed to see so many people, Pagans in particular, opine either that allowing religious symbols on government property was not important enough to argue about, (they're tired of it) or that it should simply be permitted. (Where's the harm?) Many took the position that it was WRONG for us to deny people the right to express their faith in this manner. Wow!
First, I think we need to clarify that no one is trying to take religion away from anyone else or to prevent them from practicing their faith - to a degree. We are specifically talking about tax dollars being used to put religious symbols on government property, such as the front lawn of the Courthouse. To believe there is no harm or danger in this is at best, naive.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment ensures that no government entity will show favoritism for one religion over another. It also guarantees that the United States Congress will not establish a national religion. In order to comply with this, the government must then be willing to accommodate any and all religions who also desire to exercise their right to have their symbol on the Courthouse lawn. The alternative would be to allow none.
It is not difficult to see how quickly the first option could dissolve into chaos, not to mention the clutter - to the point of becoming physiologically impossible. There is only so much space on a Courthouse lawn and let's not even get started with the religions who don't have a December holiday, who might then want tax payer dollars to fund displays during their holidays.
This brings us to the dangerous point of determining WHO will be responsible for deciding WHICH religions get to display, and which do not - and when. What I'm asking here is, which branch of the government; local City Councils, State, or Federal, will be given that power? Once those sorts of decisions are on the table, we have opened ourselves up to losing our Constitutional protections because, the special interests who have the biggest footprint, and the most money, will flood this issue with influence. Chances that we, as Pagans, will be one of the first ones excluded are pretty good. What then? And more importantly, what next?
Someone on the Witch Vox thread tried to make an argument about the military headstone project. The headstone project was a totally different animal than this is. Our veterans each get one headstone that will be placed in a cemetery, regardless of what is etched upon it. Whatever the veteran decrees their religious symbol to be, should respectfully be engraved upon the marker of their final resting place. It costs virtually nothing to do this, and certainly no more for one religious symbol than for another, and there is not the issue of space allocation. Much different than a Nativity scene vying for space amongst Menorah's, Kwanza decorations, Solstice wreath's, the Flying Spaghetti Monster etc. on a courthouse lawn.
Again, make no mistake how much it serves us to maintain awareness that the United States is already being legislated by religious values and principles; primarily, Christianity. Hot button issues such as, Abortion, Death With Dignity, (assisted suicide) Polygamy, and Same Sex Marriage are only a few examples where there are laws currently in effect that promote one religious doctrine over others.
Paganism, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism are all supportive of conditional opting to end ones life via suicide however, these religions are by law, forced to comply with laws that are based upon Christian doctrine. In Judaism, the Talmud states in a passage on priestly rules that the fetus "is considered to be mere water" until its 40th day of breath. But, Jews are held in compliance with abortion laws based upon Christian doctrine. These doctrines have infused our society so thoroughly that we become desensitized to their presence and tend to forget they are even there. We cannot afford to get comfortable with this. It serves nothing to put our faces into our hands and whine "can't we all just get along?"
The short answer is, yes. We can so long as no one religious path is forced to compromise. Not here, not now, not in the USA.
We, as Pagans, need to be vigilant about not being dismissive of something seemingly harmless as a Nativity scene on the lawn of City Hall. These are breaches in the dam that holds back a flood of fascism, a future of oppression and domination the likes of which we have not seen in this country since the Witch Hunts.
There is absolutely no reason why ANY religious representation needs to be expressed on, or in our government buildings. These things are best reserved for private homes and businesses and churches.
But, until ALL of it is stopped, we can still fight for the right to put our own Winter Solstice symbol along side of whatever else is there, as a reminder that Freedom of Religion means ALL religions and lest we find ourselves in a position of exclusion, having painted ourselves into a corner that we cannot get out of.
In these days of waxing darkness, may your days be merry & bright!
Happy Holidays!