[Vision2020] Separation Of Church & State

[Donovan Arnold]

Kai,

You raise some excellent, and shall I say correct,
points about the separation of church and state.

I personally believe that religion is to be protected
from the state and that the state not favor one
religion over the other.

Your cemetery point is one that scares me. Taxpayers
own and maintain the local cemetery. In addition, the
Federal Government also maintains cemeteries. The
entire idea of cemeteries, or the need for them, is a
religious proposition anyway.  

I can easily see people, even in our own community,
challenging that they not be required to pay the
salary and costs of maintaining a cross, or to clean
up after a religious burial ceremony.

In the Moscow Cemetery we even have religious
sections.  My Great-grandmother Louise Erickson is
buried in the section marked Old Catholic ("old Cath"
as the sign reads). Most of the rest of my family is
buried in the new Catholic section. How soon is
someone going to challenge that taxpayers stop
maintaining that portion of the cemetery because they
disagree with Catholicism?

What worries me even more is that same
great-grandmother had a son, Emmett, who as a medic,
gave his life in Europe in service of this nation. He
is buried with a giant white cross over his grave.
Next to that white cross is another cross, and it is
in a long row of other white crosses. All those
crosses, and the ground around them are maintained at
US taxpayer expense. 

I believe, as you have brought up, that it is only a
matter of time before people start shutting down the
maintenance of those cemeteries because it is a
religious ceremony being maintained by a secular
government. 

Donovan J Arnold 



--- Kai Eiselein <editor at lataheagle.com> wrote:

> ANY group, no matter how despicable, may peacefuly
> assemble. That goes for
> the Aryan Nations....anybody remember a parade in
> CDA a few years ago?
> You'd better take a closer look at some athiest
> groups.
> Why did  Denver ban religious floats from its annual
> Parade of Lights?
> Because as on athiest put it "Especially during the
> winter holiday season,
> religious proselytizing by any group -- Christian,
> Jewish, Muslim -- belongs
> in churches and temples, not in the public square"
> this person went on to
> say "Government should remain strictly neutral in 
> respect to religion --
> and that means there should be NO religious displays
> on public property."
> Think that might mean religious services on public
> property, too? I think
> there is an element who would make it so if
> possible.
> "Not in the public square"......so much for free
> speech.
> 
> Kai T. Eiselein
> Editor
> Latah Eagle
> 521 S. Jackson St.
> Moscow, ID 83843
> (208) 882-0666 Fax (208) 882-0130
> editor at lataheagle.com
> 
> 
>
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