Private Expression or Government Expression?
By AtheistDad
of AtheistParents.org
I have found that a lot of the people who send me email finding fault with my position or statement of it are themselves but pitiful logicians and philosophers. (I will save for another time the argument that anybody latching onto a god belief has some fundamental problems to begin with.) Well-meaning and moderately articulate folk have a number of times written me cordial emails attributing to me premises I had not declared or misunderstanding what simple premises I may have declared. As I tend to keep my arguments and essays casual and light, I'd think it'd be hard to misunderstand them too severely, but it happens.
For example, in my piece on school signage and the inappropriateness of god verbiage on the marquee, I state pretty clearly that my issue is with tax-funded violation of guidelines that would keep god out of school and off school signage. One site visitor has suggested that I'm a hypocrite because I moan about public displays of religion while maintaining, in this Web site, a public display of heathenism. That's a pretty tough leap to make, I think. The title of the article, after all, is not "I Think Schools Should Keep Their Goddamned Opinions to Themselves," but is "Does Your Kid's School Break the Law?" Could it be much clearer? The issue is not with private expression -- of which I am a firm defender provided it doesn't interfere with my own private expression or way of life -- but with violation of what's appropriate, if not of written, notarized law.
My aim here isn't to defend an article I wrote (I think it defends itself). Rather, it is to make clear (particularly for any Christers who happen to be reading) the distinction between private and government expression. Here's another example for you. Several visitors have commented that since our money has god plastered all over it, surely I can't have a problem with our posting the commandments in schools or in courtrooms. How can one make that leap? First off, my using money vandalized by Christers doesn't mean I approve of the vandalism. Riding a subway car decorated with graffiti doesn't constitute approval of the markings. People have to go places, though, and people have to spend money. By stamping out the god motto on my cash, I express my disapproval of it. And second off, just because our money is stamped with a religious phrase doesn't mean that the stamping is appropriate or just. Two hundred years ago, a good many plantation owners* had slaves and whipped them mercilessly. That it was the status quo doesn't mean that it was appropriate or just, no matter how vehemently Massa strove to argue the point.
All that said, I could care less if your grandmammy has the Jesus fish and 150 Bible verses printed on her personal checks. I don't give a green goddamn if you've got a "We Still Pray" bumper sticker on your car or a big bloody Christ on a stick hanging over your dinner table. That's your private expression and you have every right to it. But the moment you scribble or etch or paste a verse or a "God Bless America" onto tax-funded, government owned or operated material, you've crossed the line.
Note: Plantation Owners
This read "crackers" until a site visitor emailed me to note that my use of the word was insensitive to those whose ancestors the etymology of the word labelled. That's a pretty small bone to pick, but the person who emailed me was kind enough to provide me with an etymology of the word, and I'm a sucker for word histories, so I changed it. For your edification, "cracker" came to us as follows:
'I think the "white trash" connotation started when Frederick Remington wrote his piece called "Cracker Cowboys of Florida" in 1895. Scanned images of the article can be found at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK4014-0091-41. Another article, "Cattle and Cowboys in Florida," can be found at http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/cowboys/cowboys.htm.
The American Heritage Dictionary, though, defines Cracker as "a poor white person out of the rural esp. southeastern United States." In this sense you, and many others, are absolutely correct when using the term. But the background of the term actually adds a bit more color and character to the term (in my opinion). Some of the books that use the term may be found at Amazon.com, and I have a number of them. Some examples may be found if you do a search for "florida cracker" in the search box at Amazon.'
By AtheistDad
of AtheistParents.org
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For example, in my piece on school signage and the inappropriateness of god verbiage on the marquee, I state pretty clearly that my issue is with tax-funded violation of guidelines that would keep god out of school and off school signage. One site visitor has suggested that I'm a hypocrite because I moan about public displays of religion while maintaining, in this Web site, a public display of heathenism. That's a pretty tough leap to make, I think. The title of the article, after all, is not "I Think Schools Should Keep Their Goddamned Opinions to Themselves," but is "Does Your Kid's School Break the Law?" Could it be much clearer? The issue is not with private expression -- of which I am a firm defender provided it doesn't interfere with my own private expression or way of life -- but with violation of what's appropriate, if not of written, notarized law.
My aim here isn't to defend an article I wrote (I think it defends itself). Rather, it is to make clear (particularly for any Christers who happen to be reading) the distinction between private and government expression. Here's another example for you. Several visitors have commented that since our money has god plastered all over it, surely I can't have a problem with our posting the commandments in schools or in courtrooms. How can one make that leap? First off, my using money vandalized by Christers doesn't mean I approve of the vandalism. Riding a subway car decorated with graffiti doesn't constitute approval of the markings. People have to go places, though, and people have to spend money. By stamping out the god motto on my cash, I express my disapproval of it. And second off, just because our money is stamped with a religious phrase doesn't mean that the stamping is appropriate or just. Two hundred years ago, a good many plantation owners* had slaves and whipped them mercilessly. That it was the status quo doesn't mean that it was appropriate or just, no matter how vehemently Massa strove to argue the point.
All that said, I could care less if your grandmammy has the Jesus fish and 150 Bible verses printed on her personal checks. I don't give a green goddamn if you've got a "We Still Pray" bumper sticker on your car or a big bloody Christ on a stick hanging over your dinner table. That's your private expression and you have every right to it. But the moment you scribble or etch or paste a verse or a "God Bless America" onto tax-funded, government owned or operated material, you've crossed the line.
Note: Plantation Owners
This read "crackers" until a site visitor emailed me to note that my use of the word was insensitive to those whose ancestors the etymology of the word labelled. That's a pretty small bone to pick, but the person who emailed me was kind enough to provide me with an etymology of the word, and I'm a sucker for word histories, so I changed it. For your edification, "cracker" came to us as follows:
'I think the "white trash" connotation started when Frederick Remington wrote his piece called "Cracker Cowboys of Florida" in 1895. Scanned images of the article can be found at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ABK4014-0091-41. Another article, "Cattle and Cowboys in Florida," can be found at http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/cowboys/cowboys.htm.
The American Heritage Dictionary, though, defines Cracker as "a poor white person out of the rural esp. southeastern United States." In this sense you, and many others, are absolutely correct when using the term. But the background of the term actually adds a bit more color and character to the term (in my opinion). Some of the books that use the term may be found at Amazon.com, and I have a number of them. Some examples may be found if you do a search for "florida cracker" in the search box at Amazon.'
January 10, 2002