[Buddha-l] not just federally-owned sphere (was Buddhist stupa to be moved from NM Petroglyph Park)

[Robert Ertman]

Not just federally-owned space; states and cities are also subject to these prohibitions.
Bob Ertman
 

> From: ugg-5 at spro.net
> To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 11:13:50 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Buddhist stupa to be moved from NM Petroglyph Park
> 
> RH: ......guess I'm in favor of trying to honor the first amendment and
> keeping religion entirely out of the public sphere.........
> You needed to add, the public 'federally-owned' sphere.
> JK
> ---------------------
> 
> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 10:44 PM
> 
> 
> On Oct 1, 2012, at 9:14 PM, Christopher Fynn <chris.fynn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > In the USA you have some constitutional clause against mixing religion 
> > and government - yet religion seems to play a much bigger role in 
> > politics and government than in other western countries that have no such
> prohibition.
> 
> The first amendment to the US constitution says "Congress shall make no law
> respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
> thereof" and lots of other things. That seems pretty straightforward, but
> there are many views about what it means. Some evangelical Christians claim
> the purpose of the amendment was to protect religious organizations from
> government intrusions. Others think it means that the Congress shall make no
> laws establishing a religion for the entire United States, but that
> individual states can have established religions. On that reading,
> Pennsylvania could be a Quaker state, Massachusetts a Unitarian state, Utah
> a Mormon state, Florida a Jewish state and Louisiana a Catholic state, but
> the United States as a whole could never be affiliated with any denomination
> or any of the world religions.
> 
> Some fanatical atheists (of which I am one) interpret the amendment to mean
> that no religious ceremonies should take place in areas supported by public
> tax monies, such as national parks or schools. Some fanatical secularists
> (with whom I do not agree) think that comparative religions should not be
> taught in public schools.
> 
> At my university, which is funded solely by state taxes, a position in
> Islamic studies was advertised several years ago. The search committee was
> unable to come to an agreement on who was a suitable candidate, and the
> search was closed without a hire being made. Some time later, the
> archdiocese of Santa Fe gave funds for an endowed chair in Catholic studies,
> but the search was abandoned when members of the faculty of law threatened
> to sue the university for accepting money from a religious organization. A
> few years later, the search was resumed, and when the search committee chose
> an historian of New Mexican Catholicism, the history department refused in
> principle to accept her because her funding came from the Catholic church. A
> little later, a Jewish organization offered to sponsor an endowed chair in
> Jewish studies and then withdrew the offer upon learning that the university
> could not legally guarantee that the search committee would only consider
> candidates that are pro!
> -Israel. Nothing about the hiring of experts in religious studies is easy
> in a university funded by monies raised through taxation. 
> 
> I believe the US constitution is a monstrosity from beginning to end, and I
> would jump for joy if the entire damn thing were put into a shredder. But as
> long as we have the hideously antiquated document as the law of the land, I
> guess I'm in favor of trying to honor the first amendment and keeping
> religion entirely out of the public sphere while ensuring that everyone can
> worship (or not) exactly as he or she wants in the privacy of the home or in
> privately owned buildings that do not benefit in any way whatsoever from
> public monies or from exemption from taxes. And so I believe the Buddhist
> stupa must go from the land acquired by the National Park Service. 
> 
> Richard Hayes
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