next day, he walks past the window again, and sees the monk with an axe, chopping the Buddha to pieces! He’s horrified, so runs in, shouting.. “Hey, what are you DOING? Yesterday you were praying so intently and piously, and today you attack Buddha with an AXE? What’s the matter with you??’

‘It’s cold today, and I needed some firewood’, replies the old monk with a wink.

What is a statue?

bonj- nice to hear from you. Yeah, the last time theocracy was this prominent was during the Salem Witch Trials. Seems to be a bit regressive to me.

jon- welcome back. when the government uses public tax dollars to maintain a religious symbol separate from any other religious icons, I think it can be inferred as a preference towards that religion. No one is talking about this action as establishing a national religion per se, but rather as showing a preference towards a particular religion, which has also been an interpretation of the Establishment clause.

Prying1- Nice to hear from you too. If you would refer to my comment to jon, I think you will see the point I am trying to make. As for the crosses and stars on tombstones issue, visit the arlington website and you will find (with a few clicks in the right spots) a whol myriad of approved symbols that the government will put on a soldiers tombstone at their charge, including a Muslim symbol, an athiest symbol, a wiccan symbol, and so on. Clearly that is an all inclusive program and not singling out one particular faith to apply dollars towards. So that portion of your assumption falls flat.

Further, I do not fear religion, rather I object to the use of public tax dollars to promote a single religion over others, especially without the consent of the taxed.

True religious freedom, to me, would consist of people not prosyletizing so loudly that their symbol needs to be seen by all, as well as being paid for and maintained by the government.

Your other assertions are putting words into my mouth that did not form in my brain but in your own. I make no such claims about history books or telephone poles. Although, with new fiber optic technology, underground communications transmissions are not only easily achieved and asthetically pleasing, but possible safer for the general public, so I won’t complain if they do ‘disappear.’

anon- BTW, the name is KEN…no “t” on the end. In the post immediately preceeding this one, I provide a link to the history of the Mt. Soledad Cross that you could read to learn about the 14 year legal tug-of-war that has resulted in numerous losses for the pro-cross crowd, as well as showing the tactics the have used to circumvent the rulings. This act of Congress is just the latest in a long string of theocratic efforts on the part of the right wingers. Study up, and then we can talk again.

What kind of freak are you that you really think the so called, extra-constitutional line “separation of church and state” idea is sabotaged by a cross on Gummint property.

If you really cared about “true freedom of religion” you would not be afraid of people practicing it on Gummint land OR private property. Your fear makes me suspect you are psychologically unfit for office!

“Let’s remove all aspects of God from our country and history books so we can can be truly free”, seems to be the cry of the socialists. Do you really want that?

Next thing is telephone poles!