finally a mayor with some balls.from The Reading Eagle
Groups protest cross on tower
City does not respond to letters; ACLU asks that lawsuit be filed
By Don Spatz
Reading Eagle
Reading, PA - The Easter cross on the city-owned William Penn Memorial Fire Tower lit up on schedule this year, despite threats of a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union and another group.
The ACLU's Philadelphia office and the Washington, D.C.-based Appignani Humanist Legal Center each sent two letters to Mayor Tom McMahon demanding that the cross stay dark and be removed.
Because the city hasn't responded, Humanist Center attorney Robert V. Ritter said Wednesday that the ACLU has hired a Philadelphia attorney to file a federal suit to force the removal.
The cross was lit Feb. 26 and will stay on through Easter, McMahon said.
He said he will not change what the city has done for decades because of threats and letters.
Instead, he said, the city has been seeking advice from outside law firms.
He said some court rulings have upheld the ACLU's position but others have not.
Although Reading can't afford to spend a lot on legal fees, several law firms around the country might defend the city in court at no cost if it decides to keep the cross, McMahon said.
The ACLU and the Humanist Center said that a Reading resident objected to the cross and demanded the city not display it. Ritter said that person would be named in the suit.
Ritter said in February that the courts have prohibited cross displays on government property because they amount to government endorsement of a particular religion.
The first cross was erected at the tower by a church in 1959. It was replaced in the 1990s by a city-made light grid that forms a cross at Easter and a star at Christmas.
7 comments:
I love it-heroes are appearing everywhere! Mayor McMahon-I salute you...
Thomas Moore Law
ACLJ
are good places to start -if you haven't approached them already...
C-CS
PS-thanks for this one MR-I needed it :-)
C-CS
Reading, PA!
:)
Hello friends, I'm an atheist.
I don't believe in god and I never did. I went to Catholic school for twelve years, and I'm still an atheist.
Go figure.
Furthermore, I will never believe in god, because man, of which I am a part, could never understand "god" (if such a being actually exists) any more than a lone ant, claiming to his fellows as to having the ability to understand an elephant.
All that rhetorical sophistry aside, funny thing, I love celebrating Easter with my kids, and I LOVE Christmas too, and I think if someone wants to display a lit cross for the faithful at Easter, who am I to tell them that they can't?
Who are they, weirdoes that hate EASTER?
They are addled pussies with an agenda, oddballs with too much goddamn time on their hands.
Get a life, you fucking weirdoes!
Conversely, what I really hate in this life is zeal, especially from the stupid creatures calling themselves man, either male or female, of any ethnicity.
All equally nauseate me, as zeal nauseates me. Elaborating, I hate and thoruoghly despise zealous Christians, zealous Muslims, zealous Jews, zealous religious folks from lesser known religions and yes, I hate and despise zealous atheists too.
Verily I say for the zealous of every stripe: Let other people enjoy their traditions and beliefs, and leave the rest of us the FUCK alone with your petty, CHILDISH issues.
That said, fuck off zealots, and let others enjoy their traditions.
"a Reading resident"...the rights of the minorities, even of one, are SURE to be ignored if abusive use of modern interpretations of the establishment clause continues.
Never mind that ideally we should CELEBRATE each other's celebrations, respect each other's faith (which does not mean such a celebration is a slap at yours) and FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT...
I just don't see a problem.
Why don't they lease the tower to a private citizen for a week?
End around.
Nobody is being compelled to believe in resurrection..it's RIDICULOUS
Well said, Remorseless Demon. Let's all live, take delight in, and/or suffer with each other's Free Speech.
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