BlogWood: MT Archives

Pushy Baptists get their way, mostly

Florida’s Polk County, just north and east of the immediate Tampa Bay area, seems to be home to a group of Baptist scofflaws who surreptitiously erected a nativity scene on public property despite having had their request to do so specifically denied by the Polk County commission.

According to Interstate4Jamming, at least 2 commissioners were aware of the plans to erect the illegal Christian display in public land and looked the other way, but now, the commission has voted and is allowing the scene to stay.

There’s one catch, though: if the nativity scene stays, the public area must be opened up to other displays by anyone who asks permission. Thus, a sign reading “Festivus for the rest of us,” referring to a made up holiday from the Seinfeld TV show, might be allowed to stay (if someone claims it and askes proper permission to keep it up), and a sign that promotes the ancient prophet Zoroaster must also be allowed to remain.

That’s the way it is: if one religion is allowed to proselytize, then all messages must be allowed. Funny thing, but the same principal will apply to Florida’s new pre-K program, which many critics have likened to a huge religious welfare trough.

Legislators crafted the pre-K rules with religious schools and day care centers in mind, and most people assume that the field will be dominated by Christian players, but, technically, any religious organization can open a school and demand money from the state.

I look forward to the controversies that will surround the state sponsored pre-K Santaria sacrifices and the Rastafarian programs, as legislators scramble for ways to discriminate against non-mainstream groups.

The decision by the Polk County commission might have been challenged were it not for the timing: due to the holidays, it’s not possible to get a court date and trial this week, so the creche would have stayed up for a while regardless. The arrogance of pushy Baptists never fails to piss me off, but this result is actually better than I had expected from a county like Polk.

More here

As a church group erected a nativity scene in the dark of night on Polk County public property, officials warned it might open the door to other religious, and not-so-religious, displays.

The warning was on the mark.

After the nativity scene appeared, displays honoring Zorastrianism and the fake holiday Festivus, featured on an episode of the TV show Seinfeld, also popped up.

The Polk County Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday morning to permit the nativity scene to remain on the grounds of the Neil Combee County Administration Building, across the street from the courthouse, but also made that area a "public forum" open to any type of display, County Attorney Joseph G. Jarret said.

The commission agreed that unless someone claimed a particular display and submitted a written request asking that it remain part of the forum, it would be removed Wednesday evening, Jarret said.

The handmade nativity scene, figures of Joseph and Mary in a simple lean-to with a baby Jesus lying between them in a manger, was erected after dark on Dec. 15 by Marvin Pittman, 66, a retired law enforcement officer, and his Bible study group from First Baptist Church of Bartow.

County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson had pushed for months to erect such a display, but failed to sway fellow commissioners.

And here.

...Commissioner Randy Wilkinson, who pushed previously for a religious display, and on Wednesday said, ``What these folks are trying to do is turn us back to the values that made us great.''

Values that made us great.