The Oshkosh Common Council recently received an offer from Liberty Counsel, an organization tied to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, to defend them in court in any future lawsuit involving the Menominee Park Christmas Box Angel Statue.For more than 30 years Jerry Falwell has played a key role in mobilizing religious conservatives as a political force. The so-called "culture wars" are in large part the result of Falwell-influenced drives to make Christian symbols part of public life. Opposition to feminism, homosexuality, evolution, and the "secular humanism" of public universities play a huge role in the movement too.
In a sermon delivered earlier this month, the Reverend urges his followers to be "the most intolerant people in the world."
Check out the Angel Archive for more information about the status controversy.
14 comments:
How can you have any doubts about the religious nature of the angel now???
Humans are symbolic - always have been. A swastika was once a symbol of peace (I beleive - in India) but look how packed with meaning it is now, after the nazis.
At my kids school there was a group of kids who asserted it was their "free speech right" to have confederate flag images on their hats, clothes and cars. No problem - it's an Historic emblem, right? Well, not when members of the goup openly mock the few black kids in school, listen to white supremacist rap music (I sat in the parking lot and heard this myself blasting from their cars)and write "KKK" in pen across the backs of their hands. ONe guy wanted "KKK" after his name under his yearbook photo. Yet, the administration did nothing really, just waited for the group leaders to graduate. Now it's at a level where the admin can pretend it doesn't exist. But the kids aren't fooled. They live with this crap.
In my "past life" I've lived where church/state conflicts like this have occurred before - it always goes like this.
If people don't get it and aren't willing to freak out and make it stop early, yeah, you end up playing footsie with creeps like Falwell. Now your mayor Castle gets to see who else is on his side of the line he drew in the sand. I hope he likes Jerry because now he owns him.
Geez people, who's crazy now? Okay - still me. But I don't see how things could POSSIBLY be more clear for your council than they are now. Maybe I should write a thank you note to ol' Jer for clarifying the issue so nicely.
Taxypayer dollars are not paying for this. The angel was paid for by private donations.
Nor did taxpayer dollars pay for the sundial or a "clock" that I know of...
Tax dollars are paying for the upkeep of the sundial.
Angel what is your point? I read the article you referenced. It says nothing about the city paying for the clock or the sundial. I realize you're young and trying to be involved. I applaud that. But the article does not say what you must think it does. Also, if you check with the city you will find that both came from private donations.
Jody,
The swastika is a good example of what I have been trying to argue, unsuccessfully because of the dogmatism on all sides of these kinds of issues, since the angel controversy made headlines.
The swastika was a clearly religious symbol for centuries, especially for Hindus and some Native American tribes. I've read that early statues of Buddha contained swastikas also, but I have never seen that in pictures.
The swastika is STILL a religious symbol for many groups, including the Chinese Falun Gong movement.
The nazis co-opted the swastika, secularized it, and made it into a symbol of anti-semitism, racism, and hate. Many peaceful souls around the world are upset that the religious meaning of the swastika had been divested by the nazis to the point that anyone who uses that symbol is necessarily thought--at least in Europe and the US--to be preaching hate.
After 50 years of popular culture appropriation, angels too have been going though a transformation in meaning--still primarily religious I will concede, but transformed greatly by film, music, and other media. The Falwell's of the world have an interest in a PARTICULAR meaning of the angel--a narrow fundamentalist Christian meaning of it.
I think my bigger point here is that regardless of where the angel is eventually placed--and I think it belongs in a private location because of the discord that will accompany a lawsuit--the effort to define "angel" should continue. I am not willing to let the Falwell's of the world dictate how an angel should be interpreted.
Much better to let Bill Castle or Paul Esslinger dictate that.
in other words, I stand corrected.
what I meant to say, in a nutshell without specifics is that we spend money in all the so called "wrong places", imo, because at school there is such a sqeeze, and to hear the words "paid for by taxpayer dollars" pissses me off to no end.
apologies.
Angel, not a problem. I agree our goverment from the top on down to the locals spend way too much money inappropriately.
they say that the school district has a "budget deficit" of several million, and then the go and get taxpayer money to pay several hundred million for this building and that project, I sometimes wonder how controversial would it be to use taxpayer money to pay off the district's debts?
would it be less controversial than the angel situation?
all the hoopla over a darn statue, and it seems to me that we got better things to think about.
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