Cultural Wrecking-Ball
| By Vanessa Rose Phin |
August 3, 2004 |
The Los Angeles government, without a voter referendum, has taken upon
itself to override the majority, history, and freedom in order to remove an
image from its city seal. Not, mind you, the large pagan goddess splayed upon
the center of the seal, but the tiny cross to the right of her. This city,
founded by Catholics, will now remove part of its own past. Why? The ACLU--
American Civil Liberties Union-- has said that the tiny cross offends people,
and that the church and state must remain divided.
Let us clarify things. The separation of church and state is not found
in the Constitution at any point, even in the amendments. However, the very
first amendment maintains freedom of religion.
I mention this not because a city decided to change its seal-- which
it has the right to do, even if the reasons outrage its own people-- but
because this dogged attack is just one of many by a union which says it
protects civil liberties-- the kind of attack that kicks out a student from an
SAT test because she is wearing a shirt with a cross on it, or the kind of
repression that does not allow students to stay after school to pray by
themselves. Christians and Muslims have gotten dealt a hard blow by
secularists, whose belief in the absence of God from all matters of the state
is crumbling part of the cultural heritage of America.
As a historian, I object. Some of the first settlers from England
founded colonies because their own government was forbidding them to worship
in their own ways. Part of the history of America is founded by religious
groups-- just look at the names of some cities! Los Angeles, the angels.
Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. San Francisco, Saint Francis. Saint
Augustine, obvious. Should we rename them all?
Taking the Ten Commandments out of the courts-- when we are a common
law society that hinges judicial decisions on historical precedents-- is
utterly wrong. We should be adding to our understanding, not taking it away.
It is as bad as when Protestants whitewashed Catholic churches, removing ages
of historical tradition. Add the Magna Carta, the Code of Hammurabi, excerpts
from The Republic, anything that has a precedent in our codes of law. Don't
remove history because you disagree with it, personally-- have the foresight
to realize this is part of a shared past, and strive to understand it.
Rewriting history has been one of humanity's greatest sins. It has
been done by all peoples, including Christians, which I'm sure some will make
it a point to tell me. Men are flawed. They think that if they can remove the
evidence of a thing, it will not affect future generations. Do not murder is a
commandment. I think it a murder to destroy our past. We'll only repeat it.
Which is what we are doing today. Repeating the past. Don't be fooled
by false surroundings: we still harbor the kinds of beliefs that made
abhorrent things popular. The ACLU would like Christian symbols no longer
displayed by the government. It would like students in public schools never
meeting to pray on the grounds. What's next? Muslim students removing their
scarves on public property? Churches banned from public streets? Jail time for
proselytizing?
How about banning openly religious students from public schools? Say,
Jews?
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
I don't know if this is a losing battle, or a winning one. It seems to
be the former, but then I am a pessimist about society. I have read too much
about what mankind does, and I harbor no illusions that the United States of
America is perfect.
At least I can still say this on the internet:
Heaven help us.
Copyright © 2004 by Vanessa Rose Phin
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