THE DAILY SENTINEL: And just why, we can’t help but ask, is the ACLU not enjoying the sunny beaches of Hawaii at the moment? Or the Grand Junction atheists, for that matter?
They both could find, in our 50th state, a cause that makes prayer before Mesa County Commission meetings a matter of little consequence.
The Hawaii state Senate this week, with only a smattering of lawmakers objecting, passed a bill that proclaims Sept. 24, 2009, “Islam Day.” The bill, which aims to recognize “the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions” that Muslims have made to the world, has already passed the Hawaii House of Representatives and now only awaits the signature of the governor to be enacted into law.
No doubt Muslims have made contributions to the world. So have Christians, Jews, Buddhists and members of a lot of other religions. But they, unlike a few Muslims — and there are many more out there like them — didn’t kill more than 3,000 innocent Americans in 2001. We shouldn’t forget that, either.
The last time we checked, we could find no state that officially honors Christians, or Jews, or any other religion we can think of.
The United States has long been know for its tolerance. But tolerance should go only so far. Just ask the ACLU, or our local atheists, both groups that have fought long and hard for separation of church and state. Tolerance, for those groups, stops at the doors to public buildings.
We’ll forgive the local atheists. Hawaii, after all, is far outside their zone of influence, although we hope and expect that they would oppose the measure that is about to become law in Hawaii.
But the silence of the ACLU is perplexing.
It makes us wonder: Does the ACLU support separation of church and state, or simply separation of Christianity and state?
We think we know the answer. [Source: The Daily Sentinel] By The Daily Sentinel | Thursday, May 14, 2009
