Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Persecution Complex, Continued
Before the holidays, I poked a bit of fun at the attempt by some activists to claim that Christians in America are somehow persecuted. But this press release, about a Secret Service prohibition of crosses on the inaugural parade route, sounded like it might be a genuine instance, even if the idea of this kind of "bigotry" (in the words of Christian Defense Coalition head Patrick Mahoney) sounded implausible coming from the Bush administration.
Then I took a look at the actual document the group's so upset about. The ban is actually on a wide range of "structures" including puppets, folding chairs, crates, statues, and so on. Since it explicitly exempts "signs' made of "cardboard, poster board, or cloth," a handheld cardboard cross is presumably fine, meaning this isn't a content-based restriction, but rather a general ban on big wooden objects, with crosses being one example thereof. (I expect if the Secret Service thought there was much chance of anyone bringing one, they might've specified giant wooden Stars of David or jade Buddhas too.) I'm sure there must be at least some genuine examples of anti-Christian discrimination; can't these guys find one to get upset about?
|1.5.05 @ 5:46PM|#
They might have banned big wooden objects, but did they put high-power pulsed infrared lasers on the list?
|1.5.05 @ 5:47PM|#
No puppets at the Bush inauguration? Except for the one getting inaugurated, I presume.
|1.5.05 @ 5:50PM|#
"Then I took a look at the actual document the group's so
upset about. The ban is actually on a wide range of "structures"
including puppets, folding chairs, crates, statues, and so
on."
Someday, me and my puppeteer brothers and sisters will finally be
free of this form of oppression.
...We shall overcoOOoooomme...We shall over....
P.S. Does the ban apply to sock puppets?
|1.5.05 @ 5:58PM|#
Even worse, this means that the heroes of Team America, who defend our freedoms from despicable tyrants abroad, and perfidious actors at home, are banned from the president's inauguration! It's a travesty, a sham, a mockery, a travishamockery!
drf|1.5.05 @ 6:13PM|#
banning wooden objects probably would also, by extension, result
in banning the following (in no particular order):
witches
bridges
apples
very small rocks
churches
gravy
a DUCK.
|1.5.05 @ 6:20PM|#
I'm sure there must be at least some genuine examples of anti-Christian discrimination; can't these guys find one to get upset about?
|1.5.05 @ 6:22PM|#
I'm sure there must be at least some genuine examples of
anti-Christian discrimination; can't these guys find one to get
upset about?
Anyway, isn't this a good thing overall? This is just one example
of "minority" groups claiming discrimination where none exists. So
doesn't that in effect prove what little they truly have to bitch
about?
|1.5.05 @ 6:22PM|#
A thought just struck me.
Every time there's a debate about NEA grants we get told that if we
cut off these grants we'd be banning art.
WTF, seems we banned religion about 215 years ago, then. Why the
fuck are these pests still around to bother us?
|1.5.05 @ 6:55PM|#
Some Christians are just having a hissy fit because they no long
hold the sort of hegemony that they had in the past.
*gasp* Gay people think that they are humans too! And they've got
their own TV shows too!
s.m. koppelman|1.5.05 @ 8:00PM|#
Some libertarian you are, Mr. Sanchez. Time was a fella could count on you people to decry a ban on anything and stick up for the righs of the individual at a public event in a public space. Crosses bristling with rusty nails, big jade Buddhas, bags of pus, machine guns, whatever, as long as nobody is causing deliberate harm to others.
|1.5.05 @ 8:10PM|#
You want an example? What about Tim Cavanaugh's revealing of my IP address in the now-infamous "Unborn Angel affair"?
|1.5.05 @ 8:26PM|#
s.m. koppelman,
I think the ban is silly and I don't support it. But its clearly
not an issue of persecuting the poor, hyper-sensitive
Christians.
crimethink,
You mean where you proferred your "every blastocyst is sacred"
crap? :)
|1.5.05 @ 8:38PM|#
Gary,
Yes! Not that it was crap, but...
I suspect Mr. Cavanaugh's rash actions created a chilling effect
that permeated the forum, silencing many here who would have rushed
to my defense, but for fear of their own identities being
disclosed. ;-)
|1.5.05 @ 8:54PM|#
crimethink,
Which is why half a dozen or more bloggers rushed to your defense?
Yeah right.
|1.5.05 @ 8:56PM|#
crimethink,
And yes it was crap. Your basic argument was that it must be
conception if you think about it hard enough. You then repeated
that over and over again. It was pretty laughable really.
|1.5.05 @ 9:00PM|#
Gary,
You obviously didn't think about it hard enough. ;-)
For those interested in my actual argument, and not Gary's gross
misrepresentation of it, we're having a rematch of sorts in the
current abortion thread.
|1.5.05 @ 9:05PM|#
Since it explicitly exempts "signs' made of "cardboard,
poster board, or cloth," a handheld cardboard cross is presumably
fine
But Jesus wasn't nailed to a handheld cardboard cross!
|1.5.05 @ 9:25PM|#
Which is why half a dozen or more bloggers rushed to your
defense? Yeah right.
Um, I think that crimethink's comment on a "chilling effect" was
intended humorously.
|1.5.05 @ 9:34PM|#
crimethink,
A lot of folks were slapped onto a cross. You want me to be
concerned with one deluded fellow who claimed that he was a
God?
I hope your argument in the thread below turns out better than your
claims about post-viability laws. :)
|1.5.05 @ 10:37PM|#
I should start wearing a golden gillotine around my neck. Anyone know where I can get one?
|1.5.05 @ 10:38PM|#
I think this may very well be the funniest running blog I've ever seen on H&R...
|1.6.05 @ 8:39AM|#
Just My humble opionion, but public displays with wooden crosses
aren't much fun..
And don't get me started about the puppets..
|1.6.05 @ 10:04AM|#
I'm Brian, and my wife is, too!
Remember when wrote that conservatives define persecution as a
reduction in their degree of privilege? Well, there you go.
It's wrong for them to have to follow the same rules as everyone
else. Their right to hegemony is being violated.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245