[Buddha-l] NYTimes.com: Let Us Pray for Wealth

[Joy Vriens]

Dan,

>Christians generally extol the right to proselytize, but as anyone familiar 
>with the American Biblebelt can tell you, not only would someone going 
>door-to-door trying to get converts to Shiism be greeted with tremendous 
>hostility, in many places even trying to set up a Taijiquan school can run 
>afoul of neighborhoods who will employ zoning laws, etc., to drive them out 
>(I was involved in a court case in Florida along these lines).

And the constitutional freedom of religion couldn't be of any help? I probably know the answer already, because like everywhere any stick will do to beat a dog, law or no law, constitution or not. 

> In Tennessee 
>a few years ago there was a big legal fight over whether a gift from Japan, 
>a big temple bell, should be prevented from being on display in a public 
>park, as a violation of the separation of Church and State -- Tennessee 
>being a state that would embrace school prayer, Ten Commandment displays in 
>the courthouse, and the site of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial where a 
>school teacher was convicted for teaching evolution back in 1925. 

In a strange way the separation of Church and State serves Church, because this sort of taboo like status gives it an enormous strength and value. Impossible to banalise it. Its sacredness (special status) is somehow recognised and reinforced by the State.  Breasts and religious symbols can't be publicly shown, because they yield too much power. 

Joy