Public Religious Displays: America and France Compared

In this essay, Bishop Thomas Curry discusses the recent controversies surrounding the seal of the City of Los Angeles, drawing on the turmoil in France surrounding Muslim headscarves in schools.

These thoughts were, I thought, particularly interesting:

In America, government is mandated to stay within the bounds of its own specified secular role. As the Supreme Court has stated, it may not invade the realm of "intellect and spirit." For example, it may not sponsor prayers in public schools, but individuals or groups may engage in religious activity on public school property, just as other groups or clubs do. The government may not define what religious freedom is or what it is not, or what constitute religious values. Those are rights reserved to the people.

France gave government power to separate Church and State. America excluded power over religion from government altogether, and left people free. Until judges and other commentators return to the American model of religious freedom, the present disarray in Church-State relations will continue.

Rick