Christian Bigots Attack Elephant at Secular Institution

[Guynemer]

Judas priest. Did the two of you get married and not tell me?

I know, right? The sexual tension is palpable.

[notyoueither]

I don't care. I can go down to Vancouver where every other holiday is celebrated, but people whine and moan about 'winter holiday' and 'spring holiday' and will not use Easter or Christmas.



No, but they are thrown in jail, stripped of their teaching certificates, blacklisted and otherwise harrassed by the people who know better than us, the same folks that lecture us about how Canada is anything but white, or english canada. God forbid that this culture be recognised for their accomplishments too.

You're about as ignorant as this cvnt.

http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/01/toronto-ignores-separation-of-church-and-state

Toronto ignores separation of church and state

Posted by Eric Mang in City Focus, Editorial
5 Jan 2009

As the holiday season draws to a close and Valentine’s detritus will soon litter store shelves, I thought I would get something off my chest.

A few weeks ago, I walked past Toronto’s Old City Hall. Designed by the same architect, EJ Lennox, who assisted Sir Henry Pellatt with Casa Loma, Old City Hall is a marvelous edifice. But what caught my eye was the nativity scene on the front lawn.

Although municipal offices long ago vacated Old City Hall, moved across the street to the quasi-futuristic New City Hall (so futuristic, it appears in an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation), it is now a courthouse. A place to go to argue that parking infraction or illegal left turn.

Should a courthouse display religious icons? In 2003, a monument of the Ten Commandments was removed from the state judicial building in Montgomery, Alabama. This was an unpopular move in the pious deep south, but the ruling federal judge declared that such a monument violated the separation of church and state (although not explicitly stated in the US Constitution, the separation of church and state is a legal and political principle stemming from the First Amendment. Thomas Jefferson, a noted deist and possible atheist – see “Thomas Jefferson: Author of America” by Christopher Hitchens – is credited with first using the phrase “separation of church and state” in a letter dated from 1802.)

Like the US, Canada does not have an explicit statement separating church and state, but we certainly observe this distinction. Part of the observance may be due to religious freedom; that no religion be offered a greater place in our society over others; and, part of our observance may be due to adherence to multiculturalism and a willingness to accommodate a variety of faiths, no faiths, and cultures.

So I was a little confounded as to why a nativity scene appeared on municipal property. Olympia, Washington recently made headlines when members from the Freedom from Religion Foundation posted a sign in the state Capitol, near a nativity scene, that read: “Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” Predictably, it caused an uproar, but I would reason that if you allow for one expression of (non)belief, you allow for them all. A giant menorah should sit alongside a plastic baby Jesus that is next to a winter solstice scene that is next to the birth of the Flying Spaghetti Monster that is next to a celebration of Saint Lucy.

Rationalists are growing in number. Almost 20% of Canadians identify themselves as having no belief, atheist, agnostic or freethinking. Prior to 1971, fewer than 1% reported having no religion. Perhaps the City of Toronto either allows everyone to put up a display (which could result in an unwieldy, and humorous, mess) or observe a clear separation of church and state.

Or as George Carlin said: Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself.

Here's a clue, Ben. We're not Americans. What is happening in Alabama or Washington is not apropos to what happens in Halifax, Toronto, or a zoo in Calgary.

As for Vancouver and PC there run amok, there is no legal basis for banning a nativity scene or other celebration of Christmas, or Easter, from public places (if indeed they have). It would be a political decision, and as such it has less than zero relevance to a zoo in Calgary or Alberta where there are Christmas trees and nativity scenes at our city halls and legislature grounds during the season.

[Cort Haus]

Better a dancing elephant than an obsession with a mutilated figure on a cross.

What kind of sick religion gets off on fetishising torture?

[DaShi]

A hardcore one?

[SlowwHand]

It's hardly a fetish. I'm a little surprised, Cort. I kind of saw you as someone that was more live and let live, yet here you jump on the Bash Christians band wagon.

[Asher]

Ben brings out the best in everyone.