Politics and Religion

A couple of cases where politics and religion mix have caught my attention today.

In the first case, it looks as if the Supreme Court may get involved in a case of a 29 foot high cross in San Diego. A lower court had ordered the cross removed, but Justice Kennedy has issued a stay of that ruling. The cross has been in place for 52 years as a part of a Korean War veterans memorial.

A 52 year old Vietnam-vet has filed suit. A 52 year-old Vietnam-vet with too much time on his hands.

Church state issues are important, and the exact place to draw the line between the two is often hard to find. This, however, is not an important issue. For 52 years the people of San Diego seem to have functioned quite well. Crosses are common in the US in cemeteries and memorials of all sorts. Furthermore, and this may be a relevant fact of the case, a private association actually maintains the grounds around the cross.

While this is not really a "national treasure" as one person opposing its removal has said, it's also not a national issue where the Supreme Court should have to be involved.

In the second case, it's not a single person but members of our Congress that appear to have too much time on their hands.

Apparently some members of Congress, including the "House Majority Whip Roy Blunt and other lawmakers are demanding explanations after hearing complaints that the movie "Facing the Giants" was rated PG instead of G due to religious content."

The MPAA, the organization that rates movies, says that the rating was not due to religious content, but lawmakers are not satisfied. The MPAA may have changed its story a bit, of course.

Even if it is true that religious themes played a role in the rating, is this an issue for our national legislature? Are there not tens- hundreds??- of more important issues for them to deal with?

This is, in my estimation, some members of Congress pandering to the religious right in their districts. Pandering in a very obvious and pathetic way.

As I said near the top, religious issues in our society are important. I wish that they would not get trivialized as they are by these two cases. One can only cry "Wolf!" so many times.

GP