Its starting early this year.
A newspaper? A civic group? A govt. organization.?
congress didn’t make a law here...so where has the federal government restricted the free exercise of religion and free speech in this matter ?
and SCOTUS ruled a long time ago that that local communities can decide what’s obscene...
so what’s your point ?
So city officials are allowing nude dancing and sex shows in the July 4 parade and in the public park afterward? I might have change the location of my July 4 celebration.
Haven’t you heard?? The First Amendment was included to protect flag burning and pornography! /sarcasm off
Rather than erecting a giant cross in the park and standing beside that symbol of faith, they might consider taking a spot at the grill, feeding the hungry, forgiving and asking forgiveness. That would be more than just symbolic. That would be practicing what they preach.
I agree with the referenced article that the above actions are probably more heartfelt expressions of faith than erecting a cross. But the Virginian-Pilot is wrong about what the Constitution and its history actually indicate about religious expressions of faith.
To make a long story short, this post (<-click), while addressing a tax-related issue, tells how FDR unthinkingly weakened the 10th A. protected powers of the states when he established his constitutionally unauthorized New Deal federal spending programs.
Then keeping in mind that the now-ignored 10th A. protected powers of the states include the power to address religious issues, this post (<-click) tells how corrupt justices later used FDR's "license" to ignore the 10th A. to unconstitutionally limit our religious freedoms, also scandalously legalizing abortion.
Sadly, the reason that the federal government is getting away with ignoring 10th A. protected state powers and stifling our religious freedoms is because ignorance of the Constitution, its history and how the government is supposed to work is epidemic. Widespread constitutional ignorance is evidenced by the following links.
http://tinyurl.com/npt6tThe consequence of widespread constitutional ignorance is that the people are impotent to take a firm stance against government officials who unthinkingly limit religious expression as evidenced by this cross issue.
http://tinyurl.com/hehr8
The people need to reconnect with the intentions of the Founders as reflected by the Constitution and its history. The people need to wise up to the major problem that the federal government is now not only operating outside the restraints of the federal Constitution, but also ignoring 10th A. protected state powers, wrongly limiting our religious freedoms by doing so. The bottom line is that the people need to quit sitting on their hands and vote Constitution-ignoring federal and state government leaders out of office.
But what happens when a ‘religion’ calls for the murder of Jews and Christians? Do we still allow the free exercise of that religion?
Sura (2:191-193) - "And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution of Muslims is worse than slaughter of non-believers...and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah."
Sura (5:33) - "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"
Sura (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"
Bukhari (52:177) - Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."
Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared,"Kill any Jew who falls under your power."
Ibn Ishaq: 327 - “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”