On a manicured lawn within the grounds of the Arkansas state capital in Little Rock a Nativity scene is erected each advent. It is causing all sorts of problems. Shouldn’t other religions (or, for that matter, those who reject organised religion altogether) get their chance to show off? Doesn’t the display amount to a violation of the canonical separation of religion and politics.
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The Arkansas Freethinkers do not want the Little Rock Nativity scene removed. They simply want the state to set up a “free-speech zone” and let them be part of it. Some say this will lead to chaos. In Olympia, Washington, the capitol’s all-inclusive free-speech zone became hopelessly overcrowded. Even the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster mounted a display.
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The Arkansas Freethinkers do not want the Little Rock Nativity scene removed. They simply want the state to set up a “free-speech zone” and let them be part of it. Some say this will lead to chaos. In Olympia, Washington, the capitol’s all-inclusive free-speech zone became hopelessly overcrowded. Even the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster mounted a display.
From an article titled “No crib for a bed” in the Dec. 5th - 11th 2009 issue of The Economist. So good to see that everyone is solving the big problems. This article followed several pages of extremely bleak reporting on U.S. economic prospects.
EDIT: I should note that if I lived in Little Rock I would probably be a member of the Freethinkers - if only for laughs. My point is that the Arkansas state legislature has more important things to contend with than this. Also I was quite pleased to discover that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is more or less a real thing.
