Places of worship intrude on voting's sacred privacy

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 3/3/04 | FRIDA GHITIS

[Protagoras]

It's probably called "Westminster Hall". That's the most popular name for those rooms in Presbyterian churches.

[Hodar]

Your use of the terminology being "forced" into a religion, having a Bible "shoved" down one's throat, is obviously figurative language, to describe efforts of some at persuading you.

If I wish to vote, I must go to the polling place. That's pretty much a mandate. If a church generously volunteers to allow part of it's property to be used as a voter area, it has an obligation to remove any religous or political posters; just as any other polling place would. No more, no less. If the church feels that removing posters, leaflets, or refraining from pushing their religion upon the voters is just too much to ask; the church should not volunteer their services.

For example, the Mormon church has volunteered the use of their church for local voting. During this time, the public is granted access to their community room / gym and the bathrooms for the voting process. They place coat racks across the halls, thus restricting public access to only the voting areas. This is as it should be.

By your take: the democrats have been forcing me to be a democrat all these years--constantly hammering me with their unwanted propaganda.

But they are NOT doing that at a polling place. This is mandated by Federal Law. What the Dems do outside of the voting place is simply freedom of speech. That's the difference.

[Esther Ruth]

They next will be objecting to the fact that churches are in plain site on the roads and that they have to drive by them and see those crosses on top of the steeple. They will say that if we were really loving we would build these our churches somewhere where they don't have to drive by the. They might also consider designating a few certain states and having also Bible believing Christians moving to these so they won't be seen as to offend the others. They could possibly find certain hours that we are allowed to leave our house for errands and shopping so they don't have the misfortune of bumping into us in the stores. For goodness sake we smile at them say Hi and they might melt like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy gets out her bucket of water.

[spodefly]

For goodness sake we smile at them say Hi and they might melt like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy gets out her bucket of water.

This reminds me of a joke: What's the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist?

A Methodist will say hello to you in the liquor store. ;)

[martin gibson]

Ms. Ghitis is the Pig...

[HamiltonJay]

Hey IDIOT you go ahead and make your HOUSE the voting stand then, you organize the volunteers, train them, make sure you learn all the rules etc etc etc...

If you are offended because you have to walk into a building owned by people who don't endorce lewd and leciviousness that's your own damned problem... Grow up.

[FormerLib]

But I'll be damned if I'll take off my shoes to vote!

LOL! Good point.

Of course, there might be some excellent posters addressing the topic of so-called 'gay' marriages inside a mosque.

But I'm sure our opinions will only confuse those who wish to use a story such as this as some sort of an anti-Christian screed.

[-YYZ-]

I do vote at a church. Note even sure what denomination it is off the top of my head, me being agnostic. Doesn't bother me a bit.

A mosque wouldn't bother me either, unless it had some strange requirements for entering it, like removing shoes or donning some special headdress.

I'm a Canadian and so not totally familiar with some aspects of voting in the US. Do you really have to declare your party affiliation before voting? If I understand correctly, you have to register to vote with a particular party affiliation, is that right? If so, why? Seems somewhat antithetical to the presumed right of privacy when voting.

[freedomcrusader]

I'm a Canadian and so not totally familiar with some aspects of voting in the US. Do you really have to declare your party affiliation before voting?

I think so, but you can declare yourself an "Independent", and since there is no formal organization known as the "Independent" party, in effect, you're just saying "I declare myself to be affiliated with no party."

[hellinahandcart]

Do you know that she hates Christians?

She doesn't seem to think much of them. "Oh yeah, well how would YOU like being forced into a synagogue to vote?" It's as if she just KNOWS that a Christian would as negatively as she would. It's presumptuous and snide.

My aunt and uncle and I always voted in an elemenarty school cafeteria near where we live (and they never bothered to take down the children's drawings and deorations, or activity sign-up sheets, or anything of the kind either. School and lunch were going to resume the following day). The population in our neighborhood grew to the point where my aunt and uncle were assigned a new polling place, in the basement of a nearby Lutheran church.

I just don't see the personal or religious material as a big deal. You don't have to take a pamphlet out of the rack and read it, unless you're interested, and religious images just come with the territory in a CHURCH BUILDING. Their mere presence does not equal prosletyzing. Doesn't bother me a bit if it's someone else's religion.

The nearest mosque is thirteen blocks away, so I will never have to vote there, but in the event they ever offer their space for elections, it will probably not be in the place of worship itself (that's needed for prayer all through the day, I believe), it would be at the little urban madrassa they're building next door. Which would make it the same experience as voting in any other public or private school setting. Not a problem.

You don't vote IN any church anyway, it's always some meeting room or other on church premises.

[hellinahandcart]

I'm a Canadian and so not totally familiar with some aspects of voting in the US. Do you really have to declare your party affiliation before voting?

I thought that was strange too, but then I remembered that yesterday was a primary election. They may have had different ballots for different party primaries, and you can only have one. So you have to say which one you want. This does not happen in the general election.

If I understand correctly, you have to register to vote with a particular party affiliation, is that right? If so, why?

It's not a question of "have to". If you want to vote in party primaries, you have to register as a member of that party. If you're not a member of a party you can declare yourself "Independent".

Seems somewhat antithetical to the presumed right of privacy when voting.

You never have to declare your party or candidate when you vote in a general or special election. And the poll workers don't have that information in front of them at the polling place. Just your name, address, and signature.

[-YYZ-]

Right, of course, primaries. I forgot about that part of the US system.

In Canada the only way you can inflence who the candidates will be in the elections is to be a party member and to make your nominations for the local candidate, or particpate in a party leadership vote.

I knew this stuff from getting American media all my life, but not participating in it I guess it hadn't sunk in.

[Paleo Conservative]

The author poses the question about whether people would object to voting being conducted in a mosque. Would that offend you?

Or what about military bases. The Clinton administration tried to completely eliminate polling places on military bases.