I also concur with Edmond. Religion is dying. The horrors we are seeing now are its death throes. It doesn’t go down without a fight — unfortunately.

And crippled or not, if I live to see its demise, I am going to join the dancing in the street!

I can listen to the cantatas of Bach offered for the greater glory of god without mocking his beliefs. I can revel in the physical and allegorical beauty of Michalangelo’s pieta without scoffing at the immaculate conception and resurrection. I certainly would not want to see something like Chatres turned into something gaudy and obscene.

The crucifix does symobolise christianity, yet get away from the trappings of the religion, the supernatural being, the horrific biblia, there is an inherent nobility to christ and some of his followers. This aspect (love) motivated men and women to do great things. Admittedly other aspects have also inspired terrible, however right they thought they were.

I think that athiests getting too gleeful at sticking the boot into the benighted enlightened are in grave danger of repeating the latter. Many of us think that we are doing the right thing, ignoring the example of those who did as we do, though motivated differently.

Getting rid of crucifixes on all public buildings demonstrates too much willingness to dismiss the past and the way in which it has shaped us and society. Pulling down the old icons to deify the new is obscene and alienates the moderate elements in society at the expense of an antagonistic minority swelling at their own self-importance. It is downright Orwellian.

People who demand that things be pulled down should be ignored, especially if they do so because said object ‘offends’ them. People need to stop being so bloody precious and deal with it, everyone should be offended at least once a day. Besides, I was educated at a Catholic school, devout as can be until I read the bible when I was 12 and could not reconcile it and articles of faith with science. Crucifixes on walls certainly did not oppress me if I ever noticed them at all.

“I think a longstanding tradition like the crucifix can’t be offensive to anyone”

Maybe he has a point. He should at least be given the opportunity to test this viewpoint – that’s really the only fair option.

So if he can’t find anyone who finds it offensive then they should be allowed to keep their zombie sticks.

Wait, the results are in already: at least two people find it offensive – Soile Lautsi and me.

At first it was awkward with other parents (and apparently I complained that I wanted to be in Religion class because I wanted to be with my friends), but eventually more and more parents started sending their kids to ‘Alternative’ class where we talked about ancient stories myths and the morals that they teach.

I had to go back to public schools to take my Middle School accreditation exam and had a really hard time concentrating with the bloody christ on the wall. Keep in mind, this is the full on gory catholic christ, not the barren protestant cross. Pretty gross to be staring at while trying to remember how to do multiplication problems.

“I think a longstanding tradition like the crucifix can’t be offensive to anyone”

Why is it that people think that because a bad idea is old, that makes it a good idea? How does the length of the beard on an inappropriate practice make it an appropriate practice?

Fill in the blank with your own “longstanding tradition”:

“I think a longstanding tradition like __________ can’t be offensive to anyone.”

Just a few suggestions:
forced marriage
reviling gays
beating wives
binding girls’ feet
burning forests for one season of agriculture
genital mutilation
killing apostates
torturing and killing animals for sport
infanticide for gender preference
oppressing minorities
using rhinoceros horn to enhance erections
jailing political dissidents
torturing to extract information
war

These can’t be offensive to anyone because they’ve been around for centuries.

And now if you’ll indulge me, this totally reminds me of a great joke…

Jimmy was doing poorly in math at the public school so his parents sent him to Catholic school to straighten him out. After his first day of Catholic school, he comes home, goes straight to his room and does his homework immediately. This goes on until his first report card, when he gets an A in math. Delighted, his parents ask what the nuns did differently – was it the discipline? some innovative technique? No, says Jimmy – “when I walked in the first day and saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I know those nuns meant business!”

Thank you and remember to tip your server…

Crucifixes were an undeniable symbol of Catholicism, the court ruled.

Somebody should explain that to Scalia.