shit like this makes me almost as mad as the durka durka jihad shit:

Quote :

"The Rockford Register Star reports that city officials in Oregon, Ill. changed the name of a statue scheduled to be put up outside the local judicial center because the title was deemed "too polytheistic." Sculptor David Seagraves said his work, originally titled "Demeter Over Illinois," was intended as a monument to fertility and agriculture. Donated by a local artists group, it is due to be erected in front of the Ogle County Judicial Center this fall. When it goes up, however, it will carry the title "Agriculture, Mother of Civilization" following complaints from some religious leaders in town. The Rev. Kent Svendsen didn't want the statue to go up at all, but compromised on the name change. He said the Demeter name might have been misunderstood as an advocation of idol worship or polytheism."

yeah because it's easy to mistake that a whole town is following a 3000 year old dead religion.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 9:34 AM. Reason : *]

7/31/2006 9:30:53 AM

I'm really pissed that I had to worship them in the 3rd grade roman mythology unit.

7/31/2006 9:43:25 AM

It is stupid that people care, but this is the same thing as the whole ten commandments controversy.

7/31/2006 9:45:06 AM

I just found out recently that the Erinyes fighter (in Freespace 2) was named after the Furies, in Greek (as is convention for Terran fighters/ships in the game).

I wish Volition hadn't tanked.

7/31/2006 9:58:38 AM

man our extremists over here are really bad! Just yesterday, they blew up women and children in a car bomb oustide of a pizza parlor! OH THEY ARE SO TERRIBLE.

7/31/2006 10:13:41 AM

just because it's not violent extremism doesn't mean it's not extremism

and it's still stupid

7/31/2006 10:37:42 AM

but to label that extremist and people who blow themselves up extremists is equally as stupid.

7/31/2006 10:39:41 AM

yeah i guess being this guy's not brown or muslim, he can't be an extremist.

i'm sorry, but getting your panties in a wad enough about the mythological name of a statue, ESPECIALLY when it's a classical statue of the greco-roman variety, to have it renamed, is pretty fucking extreme.

you're right, he didn't blow up the artist's studio, but he's still an extremist.

7/31/2006 11:16:08 AM

yeah, definitely an extremist, and definitely dumb, but many orders of magnitude less infuriating than, say, blowing yourself up in a crowd.

7/31/2006 11:18:02 AM

So, you wouldn't have any problem with a 10 commandments statue/monument?

7/31/2006 11:34:28 AM

Quote :

"but to label that extremist and people who blow themselves up extremists is equally as stupid."

For the extremists who live in the US causing explosions: See clinics, abortion.

7/31/2006 11:43:45 AM

not on the same level, at least until they start having someone like billy graham telling them to wage war, which is highly unlikely.

its still so, so, so stupid. I almost want to see that group in SC try to secede just to see what kind of stupidity occurs.

7/31/2006 12:43:40 PM

Yea, many people don't realize that Billy Graham was one of the biggest Civil Rights leaders during the 60's and he stays away from political controversies.

7/31/2006 12:54:30 PM

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 1:09 PM. Reason : nevermind, I rethought that.]

7/31/2006 1:08:49 PM

I think you just should have labeled this as "religious zealots fuck up statue name" or something like that. Calling it our brand of extremism makes it seem like you're saying they're comparable.

Which is a lot like labeling the guys that work at Terminix "our brand of the holocaust"

7/31/2006 1:24:29 PM

no

because terminex deals with bugs, not humans.

this deals with religion no matter how you slice it.

7/31/2006 1:25:15 PM

I was talking about the connotation of the word extremism you fucking testicle.

I don't deny that it is fundamentalism, but I think it comes up shy in the "fucked up religious ideals" department as terrorism.

Abortion clinic bombings stack up...bitching about a statue name does not. If you can't see that, you're blinder than Anne Frank


(the last part is movie humor, in case you were going to call me out)

7/31/2006 1:32:21 PM

yes, i saw clerks as well

7/31/2006 1:33:01 PM

'our brand' of religous extremism had its extremely (hah) bloody years too.

In fact, all religions have which is why almost all organized religions are shit.

7/31/2006 1:46:36 PM

Quote :

"officials in Oregon, Ill. changed the name of a statue scheduled to be put up outside the local judicial center because the title was deemed "too polytheistic.""

There. No extremism, just simple separation of church and state.

7/31/2006 1:58:48 PM

Anne Frank was blind? did you mean Helen Keller?

7/31/2006 3:10:25 PM

Brian, are you joking? Of course Anne Frank was blind.

7/31/2006 4:11:05 PM

I don't see why asking for the name change would anger anyone. If we aren't supposed to endorse/represent any religion then you have to be cut and dry. Sure it was petty but I don't see it as all that much different than what is done in most religious display conflicts in this country.

7/31/2006 11:57:59 PM

^what makes it different? Christians didn't want the statue to go up.

The end result out of this thread? 30thAnnZ now knows how a fundamentalist Christian feels when people take the 10 commandment statues down while the rest of us get to enjoy normal blood pressure levels

[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 8:00 AM. Reason : -]

8/1/2006 7:59:42 AM

dude i wanted that shit out too

^^ the difference is that that's not a practiced religion. it's history.

if it had been named "jesus, our saviour" or "allah the merciful" it SHOULD be renamed or removed from a governmental site. as it is, it was nothing to get worked up about.

[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 8:24 AM. Reason : *]

8/1/2006 8:23:00 AM

Separation of *Popular* Church and State

Now I see.

8/1/2006 9:17:31 AM

Yea, from a legal standpoint, I don't think it should make any difference.

8/1/2006 9:28:11 AM

welp, we're gonna have to get started taking down all the statues of "blind justice" since that's of greco-roman mythological origin.

[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 9:30 AM. Reason : *]

8/1/2006 9:29:58 AM

Quote :

"Separation of *Popular* Church and State"

More like separation of Actual Church and State.

8/1/2006 9:34:14 AM

paging Supplanter

8/1/2006 9:40:25 AM

Once again, it breaks down like this.

Christians need to stop being such fucking asshats about having to share the country with non-Christians.

Non-Christians need to chill the fuck out and accept a "Merry Christmas" from a store clerk every once and again without getting their panties in a bunch.

Or, if that's too long: Everyone needs to quit their bitching.

8/1/2006 10:09:16 AM

^ FTW

8/1/2006 10:10:50 AM

Does anyone in the world practice Roman mythology? No-- it's purely a historical figure. This has nothing at all to do with church and state.

The same people shitting a brick about this would have no problem with a religious figure, so long as it represented their religion.

8/1/2006 12:38:58 PM

^I have a feeling that the same people that are upset about this are just doing it because it was done to them. A "you ruined it for us, so now we'll ruin it for everyone" mentality.

P.S. Would you support a 10 commandments monument on grounds of it being historical?

Seems like the people that associate themselves with a religion are in a no win situation with you guys. Damned if they do, damned if they don't Now I'm just waiting for the reintroduction of the 10 commandments statue as a "historical" monument called "The 10 Suggestions"

[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 1:03 PM. Reason : -]

8/1/2006 12:54:53 PM

I have no problem with a 10 Commandments statue, but supported the ruling to have it removed. I don't think it necessarily belongs in front of government buildings, but is generally harmless until you get some court ruling that you must stand in front of it and pray to a specific god.

For the most part, this whole issue is two sides trying to prove a point that doesn't need to be proven.

8/1/2006 12:59:54 PM

Is a Ten Commandments monument purely historical? Would that be the intent of the people erecting it?

But no, so long as it was part of a broader tribute to legal history it'd be ok. There are much stronger influences on our laws than the Ten Commandments. To just have them and nothing else would be extremely suspect.

8/1/2006 1:04:44 PM

^^pretty much.

^so now we are going to consider intent. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go there. I can here it now...

"Sculptor David Seagraves made the statue as an affront to our system of beliefs." In fact that has pretty much already been said. "Just having a statue of Demeter and nothing else is extremely suspect" See what I did there?


[Edited on August 1, 2006 at 1:09 PM. Reason : -]

8/1/2006 1:04:44 PM

Quote :

"the difference is that that's not a practiced religion. it's history."

if I am not mistaken there are still tens of thousands (I wanna say 40k for some reason) who actively practice the faith in Greece.

8/1/2006 2:11:55 PM