July 29, 2004

The secular brownshirts on the march again

Yet another flap over separation of church and daily life, this time in the very offices of the governor of Florida:

Walk into the Capitol offices of Gov. Jeb Bush's top lawyer, and one of the first things you'll see is a small American flag with one significant difference: Instead of just stars and stripes, there's a bright white cross emblazoned over the blue field.

To critics, the message is simple: America is a Christian nation.

"To me, it's offensive and hurtful," said state Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston.

[Full Story]

Ignore the headline: "Capitol Flag Under Fire Over Cross." It's got nothing to do with a flag. Where is this horrible, dangerous cross that will be the end of the world as we know it?

The image is on a greeting card and is posted on a bulletin board among personal family photos of the receptionist, and does not appear to imply official state policy.

Good grief. These days, even an office admin becomes a Constitutional crisis if she puts up a greeting card in her personal space along with pictures of the kiddos.

Nonetheless, you had to know that this self-loathing excuse for a "Christian minister" had to poke his nose in:

"This appears to be a promotion of a particular religious viewpoint," said Barry Lynn, executive director of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a minister in the United Church of Christ. "In a government building, it's inappropriate."

No, bonehead, it's a personal effect, and it is wholly appropriate, as would be a potted plant, a picture of the family dog, or a postcard from a co-worker's vacation.

Another officer of the Secular Thought Police chimes in:

Judith Schaeffer, deputy legal director of the People for the American Way Foundation, said the image was not only inappropriate, but divisive.

If a lawyer who is Muslim, Jewish, some other religion or non-religious came in to do business with Rodriguez, "he or she might well feel like a second-class citizen," she said.

To listen to the spokesdroids for Americans United for Separation or People for Our Way or the Highway, you'd think these poor Muslim and Jewish lawyers can't even walk past a church without fainting violently at the sight of the emblems of that fanatical religion, Christianity. Earth to Lynn and Schaeffer: You're projecting again.

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