Ethics

What I Saw in Frankenmuth

By Ed Brayton

This is the report I filed for Michigan Messenger:

A standing room only crowd that overflowed the meeting room, spilled out into the hallway and even down the stairs leading to the second floor of Frankenmuth city hall on Tuesday night witnessed a tense and emotionally-charged city council meeting as a local resident asked the council to remove a Lutheran cross from the city shield and a number of local citizens demanded that the cross stay where it is.

There was nothing unusual about the scene that played out; indeed, for those who have followed church/state battles in other communities it might almost have seemed like actors reading from the same script they've seen rehearsed a thousand times before. Invariably, the resident who believes that his government's use of a religious symbol is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion that sends a message of exclusion to those who don't share that particular faith is in the minority, usually a tiny minority. Lloyd Clarke knew that long before he stepped to the podium to make his request.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 09, 2008 (boomark / email).