Re: Witch Stands up for Her Rights Jenny jennyg@compuserve.com Thu Oct 22 10:58:32 1998 : You know, bigotry, ignorance, and prejudice can go both *br*: ways. What state do you live in?*p*Currently Oregon, but I grew up in a small town in rural Maine. And my home town was far, far more prejudiced than you would think, gazing at the surface. We had sort of a "spider" approach to diversity: if I don't see it, I won't stomp on it. If I know it's under the couch, I'm not going to crawl under there to get it. But the first time that thing crawls out on the kitchen floor, it's a goner. There was a lesbian couple in town. People got along with them fine. As long as they never held hands. Never mentioned they were gay. Never wore gay-pride symbols and never spoke in favor of gay rights.*p*My point was, silence is not the same as tolerance. The "fact" that prejudice didn't appear until the court case doesn't mean that it was never there. I didn't know that a lot of people in my town hated the Japanese -- until a Japanese man moved into the area.*p*: I am certainly not going to fight 6,000 people to remove it *br*: because I, one person, doesn't want it there. *p*It's not how I'd spend my time and energy either. But I wouldn't belittle or disparage someone who did.*p**br*: I have read *br*: the article twice, and I still see nothing about religious *br*: discrimination. All I see is a woman who picked a fight *br*: with 6,000 people, and is bellyaching to the AP because she *br*: can't handle it.*p*When a town adopts the religious symbol of one faith, and not another, that's discrimination. I think it's a pretty darn mild form, but one nonetheless. One religion is singled out to receive a privilege. This fight has certainly drawn other, latent discrimination to the surface (like the person screaming that the Wiccan's a witch and going to go to Hell). But that's a separate issue.*p**br*: If it is silly of a University, why is it NOT silly for a *br*: town to do it? You are fighting to have the town do just *br*: what the University did. *p*The two circumstances aren't even similar. In one case (wearing religious jewelry) equality is possible. All people can be allowed to wear symbols of their own faith. In the other case (town seals), equality is not possible. Only a limited number of images can appear on a seal. My opinion is, if you can share, share. If you can't, don't favor one faith. As I said to Beirdd, the purpose of the separation of church and state clause is to prevent favoritism, not religion. *p*: Sounds like a great idea to me. That way the university *br*: advocates no religion, and everyone has the right to wear *br*: their necklaces and whatnot. I like the unofficial/official *br*: policy.*p*I prefer my official and unofficial policies to match -- if you don't want to prevent something, don't ban it. Turning a blind eye is definitely better than enforcing such a noxious policy. But not having the policy in the first place would be best, IMO. The University can avoid advocating one religion without forbidding all signs of religious enthusiasm. *p*: And, if you decided to fight with her instead of resonably *br*: descuss it with her, what do you think the outcome would be? *p*The situation came to a happy end because both of us were level-headed. But what if she hadn't? Would it be wrong of me to take this to the Ombudsman, or to the courts if that failed? Because we were arguing about "just" a symbol? *p*The article really doesn't make it clear whether or not this woman tried reasonable tactics *before* contacting the ACLU. We don't know what was said at the town hall meeting, how people reacted to claims that their seal favored one religion. We don't know what her editorial said (though I will point out that her editor chose to print it, even though he discouraged her from writing it). We don't know what the letters to the editor said. We don't even know much about the circumstances of her firing. Therefore it's not safe to assume that she's some glory-seeking liberal idiot.*p*I think (correct me if I'm wrong!) that you believe I see this woman as a hero. I don't, necessarily. I don't have enough information. I do think that using one religion's symbol is discrimination, albeit a very minor one. Is it discrimination worth fighting over? Not to me, but that's another issue. I won't belittle a person who chooses to persue this, because I don't know what (if any) other evidence she has that this was motivated by prejudice.*p*Jenny Re: Witch Stands up for Her Rights Infiniti 87 Wed Oct 21 12:54:38 1998