Click here for the new Anchor Rising & Ocean State Current page
January 17, 2005
No Gods Before the Lord Your God
Justin Katz
Matthew Jerzyk of Providence has a particularly restrictive view of the appropriate content of public monuments:
We have hundreds of places in our city for monuments of the Ten Commandments; they are called churches. Our public spaces, however, should be reserved to memorialize our common faith in government. For example, if any city official wants to use my tax dollars to erect monuments, I would suggest that he or she start with a monument to the U.S. Constitution.
Our common faith in government? God forbid!
9:43 AM
About Community Crier
About Engaged Citizen
I lost my faith in government years ago which is why I am a lapsed liberal.
I think this comment though does indicate a world view of many people who mainly think that the answers to any problem is a government program. This takes great faith.
Posted by: Jeff Miller at January 17, 2005 8:16 PMI'm not so sure I would say that it takes great faith.
Posted by: smmtheory at January 17, 2005 10:34 PMThank you Jeff Miller for saying what many of us do not have the time to express. Tax dollars are currently used for many things I disagree with, but some of our tax dollar contributions are well spent. However, when one adds "faith" to the picture that opens up a whole new dimension. Some of us(including myself) believe our faith should only be in God, not our governments. The government can make wise investments into our future and lives, but I do not believe all of the world's problems can be solved with government programs alone. Since the government is made up of human beings and the main characteristic of being human means we can falter, I doubt very much the maintenance of the 10 commandments in public offices hurts anyone except those who choose on a regular basis to break those laws.
Posted by: Noni Roach at July 21, 2005 5:38 PM