City officials in St. Paul, Minnesota removed a toy Easter Bunny from the offices of the city council after the city's human rights director said non-Christians might be offended by the display, reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Also removed were Easter eggs and a sign saying "Happy Easter."
"I sent an e-mail that Easter is viewed as a Christian holiday and advised that it be taken down," said Tyrone Terrill, the city's human rights director. "It wasn't a big deal."
The PiPress reports that this is not the first time city hall has been embroiled in controversy over religious displays. Red poinsettias were apparently banned from the building several years ago after someone decided they were "too connected to Christianity."
Mean Streets
A museum in Hartford, Conn. was forced to cancel a show featuring the gun collection of Samuel Colt because the show didn't offer "a broader context in which to talk about contemporary gun violence," according to the Hartford Courant.
The show of Colt's gun collection, which had been three years in the planning, was to be exhibited at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum museum beginning in May next year. The collection was bequeathed to the museum in 1905.
"Samuel Colt: Arms, Art and Invention" featured 110 firearms from the industrialist's collection. Opposition to the exhibit came especially from givers of "cultural and heritage grants" who expressed dismay about such a show in a city trying to remake its mean-streets image.
More MoToons
A senior Anglican priest was forced to resign as editor of a Welsh church magazine because he allowed an image of Mohammed to be published alongside an article calling for tolerance among all faiths, according to the Guardian.
The Venerable Meurig Llwyd Williams, archdeacon of Bangor, included a cartoon showing Mohammed sitting on a cloud with God and Buddha and being told: "Don't complain -- we've all been caricatured here." It was published in YLlan, a magazine with a circulation of about 400.
All copies of the magazine have since been collected and destroyed. The publication was called "a gross error of judgment," and an investigation has been launched.
"Despite the publication's small circulation, we are concerned about the possibility of causing any offence to the Muslim community in Wales - with whom the Church in Wales has an excellent relationship - as a result of the reproduction of this cartoon," said Sion Brynach, a spokesman for the church.
Diversity Day
A high school in Wisconsin planning a diversity day for juniors and seniors opted to cancel the program entirely instead of allowing a former gay or Christian speaker to participate, according to the Lacrosse Tribune.
Speakers for the event at Viroqua High School included Hmong, Jewish, Muslim, American Indian, African American, Latino, Buddhist, gay, physically disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged people.
The Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm, strongly suggested that the school include a Christian or formerly gay viewpoint among the Diversity Day speakers, saying "Diversity means, in our understanding, that the various views are presented, and that was lacking."
But a gay couple invited to the event said they would feel uncomfortable hearing from formerly gay people, so the school cancelled the event altogether.
Now it's All Prophets?
Professors at the Sunni Muslim world's most influential university, Al-Azhar in Cairo, say an Egyptian filmmaker cannot make a film about the life of Jesus Christ because it's against the rules to produce any depictions of any prophet, according to Middle East Online.
Abdel Mooti Bayumi, an Al-Azhar professor, said the institution has made its position very clear. "Al-Azhar rejects the depiction of Jesus in a film because Christ is not only the prophet of the Christians but also present in Islam," he said.
But the film's producers are scratching their heads, wondering what gives anyone at Al-Azhar the right to say anything about the film.
"Al-Azhar does not have the right to intervene in something which concerns the Christians, otherwise it would have to tear down the icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary from churches," said scriptwriter Fayez Ghali. "Christian dogma does not prohibit the depiction of Christ, so what gives Al-Azhar the right to intervene?
For more doses of politically correct nuttiness, head on over to the TongueTied daily edition.
Mailbag:
Gordon H. in Louisiana writes:
It would seem by their remark about enough white people on pedestals in Portland, Me., that the individual on the public art committee that approves statue placement has failed to realize that there are enough morons on public committees making stupid statements.
If the committee doesn't want the statue, just say so, but keep the offensive comments to themselves. But really, what do you expect from an "artsy" type? I agree with Melissa Wolf, diversity doesn't need to be rammed down people's throats.
Gerald C. writes:
The quote attributed to Democratic Sen. Peter Groff of Colorado is, in my opinion, asinine - it is also evident from Sen. Groff's remark that he has never visited New Orleans or he would know that the essay written by Rev. Peterson is an accurate reflection of reality.
John in Portland writes:
Does it ever make you want to ask Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton what part of Africa they were born in when they refer to African-Americans? Most are generations removed from their "heritage" and know very little about the country from which their ancestors came. When the black leaders begin to refer to themselves as Americans, we may be able to get past the racist overtones.
Black leaders in America are the ones who foment racism. If they would stop the "you owe me" rhetoric and encourage all Americans to do the best they can for themselves, first with education, then with the better job opportunities that education presents, that would be a great start.
Jack B. writes:
I always felt that the moment of silence was an opportunity for those who wished to partake in prayer.
The Constitution (1st amendment) says Congress shall "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It sounds to me as though those who object don't want the school to allow the children who wish to an opportunity to pray.
Mary Jo S. writes:
Where I grew up, black folk lived on the other side of the train tracks, and they rode in the back of the bus. When I went into the U.S. Army, all races slept in the same old two-story Army barracks. In clerk typist school, a black officer ran the school. When I went overseas to Germany (in peace time), I had black fellow soldiers as friends.
The point is this; people are people no matter the color of their skin. I've met blacks that were smarter than me, and blacks that were dumber than me. We must all realize, in order to live with each other in peace, "for we are all God's children". And whether one believes in God or not, the commandment to "love our neighbor as ourselves" is still the best way to approach life on this planet.
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