Posted on 08/16/2005 10:15:08 AM PDT by jb6
08/15/2005 - 11:09 Crucifixes in government buildings
"It is important that God is present in public life, with the sign of the cross, in homes and public buildings," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted
Pope Benedict XVI has backed the display of crucifixes in public buildings, saying that God should be present in public life.
"It is important that God is present in public life, with the sign of the cross, in homes and public buildings," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted the pontiff as saying during his homily in a parish church in Castel Gandolfo, the hill town outside Rome where the Vatican has its vacation retreat.
He made no reference to specific disputes, but the issue of whether religious symbols have a place in government buildings has been a divisive one in Italy and elsewhere.
A Muslim activist in Italy in past years had turned to the courts to seek the removal of crucifixes from public schools in Italy, which is officially secular.
Would you be equally enthuisatic about having Stars of David and Cresents on Government buildings?
In a Jewish state, yes, please. In all Muslim states that is the reality. What's your point?
Crucifixes violate the religious beliefs of many Christians, who believe them to be prohibited "graven images of that which is in Heaven".
It'll never happen. The EU refused to even make mention of Europe's Christian culture and traditions in its constitution. Benedict may be well-intentioned, but he's about a century too late. Should have held onto those Papal States lol...
European countries have all declared themselves secular, starting with France during its revolution.
Actually, this may surprise you, after the revolution, all streets, in French cities, with the prefix "St." were re-named with non-religious ones.
Europe will walk the extra mile to forget its post-Roman roots, but will do nothing to fight the onslaught of radical Islam within it.
Dhimmis will learn the hard way. They always have done so.
How many Christians would that be? Considering that Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherins, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists and most other Protestants don't have a problem with Crosses, the "Many Christians" you're referring to are a tiny sliver probably less then 3%
Oh and Italy is a Roman Catholic nation so that argument is really really mute.
Crosses and crucifixes are two different things. Religious objection to crucifixes is much more widespread than objection to crosses. One bears a "graven image", the other doesn't.
I'd heard that. The French Revolution was a really flaky period of time, no doubt as a backlash against the excesses of the French kings. The revolutionaries took all of the royalty out of decks of playing cards, they renamed the months of the year, and I think they even tried to go to Metric time for a little while.
No, officially/legally it is not, per its own constitution. And while a majority of its citizens are nominally Catholic, few really follow the teachings of the religion (for evidence, start with the birth rate of less than 2 children per woman).
The crucifix may violate some, but reinforce others. Whose rights should take precedent?
The "graven image" objection is specific to the crucifix, not to the cross. The latter is a simple geometric symbol, after all.
If the people of those districts voted to do so, I have no problem with it, since government is the servant of the people, and not their master.
The Metric system stuck on, but they reverted back to the 12-month calender and the 12-hour day, from the 10-month year and 10-hour system.
Where the law of the land is that there is no official state religion and that all religions have equal standing before the law, religious symbols have no place in public buildings. This way everyone has equal rights, and no one group's rights "take precedence" over another's.
Israel is a state with an official religion, viz., Judaism.
I don't think any nation in Europe except the Vatican has an official state religion. All of them are constitutionally secular, and hence they would be prevented from placing any object of religious significance within a government building. And most European nations are pretty serious about this matter.
Remember last year, France's stance of 'the citizen conforms to the Republic, not the vice-versa' when it came to schoolchildren wearing scullcaps, hijabs and crosses?
Keep repeating that and I wish it was true. Lately, especially with the private property ruling, we're the servants of government not the other way around.
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