[Buddha-l] Buddhist stupa to be moved from NM Petroglyph Park

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2012-09-24 at 17:31 -0600, I wrote:

> ALBUQUERQUE (AP) ― A Buddhist stupa has been order removed from New
> Mexico's Petroglyph National Monument.
> 
> The National Park Service said Monday that park service will remove
> the religious item from the park this week after getting an opinion
> from the Department of Interior's solicitor general. The solicitor
> general ruled last month that keeping the Buddhist stupa violates the
> Constitution on established religion. 

Needless to say, I was delighted by this decision. A Buddhist stupa has
no place in a national monument or on any other federal lands. When I
heard this story reported on NPR, there was a further piece of
information that I found deeply disturbing, namely, that the Department
of Interior is still dithering about the plaques that fundamentalist
Christians have placed in Grand Canyon National Park, informing visitors
that the Grand Canyon was formed a few thousand years by Noah´s flood.
(It is not explained why Arizona was left with a deep canyon by the
flood while Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas were left almost perfectly flat.)
I have seen those plaques and was appalled that the National Park
Service had allowed them to remain for almost thirty years. Apparently
efforts to remove them have been met with vociferous outcries. For those
who have the stomach to read it, here is a link from an offended
Christian, who sees the efforts of the National Park Service to remove
the signs as part of the government´s (and the ACLU´s) war on
Christianity. 

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2003/07/28/God-grand-canyon

I especially love the reference in this piece to geological features
named after Hindu gods, by which the author is undoubtedly referring to
the Vishnu schist, the Brahma schist and the Rama schist. I saw no
objection to the Bright Angel shale, however. I reckon we can eventually
expect to see demands that the Hindu features be renamed the Jesus
schist, the Paul schist and the Peter schist, to be known collectively
as the Holy Schist. And just to be on the safe side, I think the Dox
sandstone should be renamed the Orthodox sandstone.

If it is completely ridiculous claims one craves to see, there is no
need to visit the mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan. There are plenty
to be found all over the United States. I wouldn´t be entirely surprised
if even one or two Europeans have said something silly, but that is
really just a Wilders guess on my part.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Geological Theology
Universidad of Nuevo México