Bloomington bans Bible, but welcomes Buddha

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | October 19, 2007

[Man50D]

Buddha is welcome but the Bible is banned at the Bloomington, Ind., city hall after officials booted a display of the Ten Commandments erected by Christians wanting equal treatment with the Far East religion promoted by the Dalai Lama.

A WND request for comment from Mayor Mark Kruzan wasn't immediately returned but a team of Christians upset over the promotion of Buddhism told WND they are seeking legal advice about their next step.

The dispute arose over a display of religious statues of Buddha and other items, including religious cloth paintings, erected in the Bloomington City Hall to coincide with a coming visit of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's leader of Buddhism.

Amy Bernitt, one of the Christians who made arrangements for the Ten Commandments to be made available for a similar display about Christianity, told WND a few hours after the stone tablets were delivered for display in City Hall, "I got a very rude call from public works, telling us the Ten Commandments had been taken down and we need to come get them."

The tablets were delivered and set up by a volunteer team of Christians after city officials declined to respond to the group's multiple telephone and e-mail requests about the procedure used to erect the Buddhist display.

At the installation of the Christian symbol, according to the local Herald Times newspaper, Jim Billingsley read a statement explaining what was going on.

"These commandments are our symbol of peace, and we want to include them with the city's display to promote religious enlightenment. We want to be clear that we do not agree with the ideology of the Dalai Lama or Buddhist beliefs – we are Christians and believe in one God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," he said.

[gracesdad]

“I say this as a devout Christian, but I really don’t see what all the fuss is about. I don’t worship symbols or statues. More important than having a 10 Commandments statue is striving to OBEY the 10 Commandments on a daily basis.”

Please don’t bring common sense to this discussion. Aren’t you aware that without the 10 Commandments there, people will see the display and start coverting to Buddhism en masse?

[DocRock]

I was present at the unveiling of the American Heritage Foundation Rock in our county administration building. If you want to see how to legally display the 10 Commandments on government property, you may want to check out this LINK. This was installed on Sept. 11, 2003, (after the Judge Roy Moore problem), with a parking lot full of TV satellite trucks, reporters crawling over each other and overflow attendance. Yes, the ACLU was there, threatening to sue but there wasn't a peep out of them or the media because it can be done legally. Unfortunately, it probably can't be done with a Bible, only our founding documents which include religious references and the 10 Commandments. Good luck and God Bless.

[mthornburg]

why not call in the ACLU? don’t they safeguard our children from the evil influences of religion? \sarcasm.

Actually they've represented the civil liberties of Christians a lot. Believe it or not they're not just an anti-Christian cabal.

[stillonaroll]

I say this as a devout Christian, but I really don’t see what all the fuss is about. I don’t worship symbols or statues. More important than having a 10 Commandments statue is striving to OBEY the 10 Commandments on a daily basis.

You're missing the point here. The government entity here is apparently giving tacit approval of a faith other than Christianity. There have been similar incidents in government schools, where students were forced to live as Muslims, carrying out Muslim rituals, while being prohibited from expressing their Christian faith.

The creeping criminalization of Christianity is something that should concern you.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

>>The creeping criminalization of Christianity is something that should concern you.<<

It doesn’t, because we’ve been warned to expect it (Mt. 5:10-12 & 10:16-39; 1 Cor 4:12, among others)

Rather, we should be concerned when men speak well of us (Luke 6:26).

Our answer is in the Spirit and Truth of Christ, not in a statue.

[muawiyah]

Indiana University was established LONG BEFORE landgrant universities came along. You are thinking of Purdue University, in West Lafayette. That's a johnny-come-lately school dependent on public largess from its foundation.

My 5 or 6 times Great Grandfather George Dunn donated the IU campus out of his own property. Half the named streets in town were named after other of my relatives.

Are you sure you've ever been in Bloomington, Indiana?

[muawiyah]

BTW, GE's gone, RCA is gone ~ done in by major changes in the world of electronics ~ recall that no one makes TV tubes anymore.

Stents are in ~ people in Bloomington manufacture them. The entire West side is new since the early 1990s ~ you might have missed that.

[OldCorps]

Indiana University was established LONG BEFORE landgrant universities came along. You are thinking of Purdue University, in West Lafayette. That's a johnny-come-lately school dependent on public largess from its foundation.

I don't know, or care, either way.

My 5 or 6 times Great Grandfather George Dunn donated the IU campus out of his own property.

Well, I had a Mr. Dunn who taught social studies at Central Jr. High, where Kroger's now stands. Are you him? Related? I liked and respected him.

Half the named streets in town were named after other of my relatives.

Lol, you might be overstating your importance a bit. Lessee, 1st st, 2nd st, 3rd st....17th st, Rogers, oh, how about Kirkwood? I do recall a Dunn st somewhere.

Are you sure you've ever been in Bloomington, Indiana?

Naw, I was only born and raised there, but I certainly feel no obligation to prove it to you.

[muawiyah]

One of the reasons for the establishment of the university in Bloomington was to make it easier for the locals to learn to read and write ~ so they could be good citizens.

Turns out I said "named streets" and you responded with an argument about the "numbered streets".

Apparantly they were wrong about the locals getting a chance to learn.

Regarding the various old families in Bloomington and that area, they're all pretty much covered in the family genealogical research we have. You checked out William Alexander named down there on the memorial at the Court House? He's a relative too ~ like my grandfather's grandfather.

And no, my surname is not Dunn!

[Military family member]

Welcome to what those of us in Indiana like to call The people Republic of Bloomington.

[TigersEye]

The government entity here is apparently giving tacit approval of a faith other than Christianity.

That is the liberal argument against public display of the Ten Commandments. I didn't buy it in that case and I don't buy it in this one.