On the other hand if we eliminate everything, or at least constantly change, in the interest of keeping current and modern, we will have no traditions. For the record I am not an evangelical or a fundamentalist. I was raised an Episcopalian. James Brothers, RPA [log in to unmask] On Feb 26, 2007, at 19:52, Hardin, David wrote: > It strikes me that this tempest over the Wren Chapel > cross is yet another example of the kind of > emotional, hot-button issue that conservatives > love, that makes great editorial fodder, and that > makes for a catchy bumpersticker, but as usual wilts > under reasonable scrutiny. Why does the fact that > the cross has been there for a "some time" mean that > it must stay there? Tradition? If tradition is a > valid argument, let's restore the ducking stool at > Witch Duck and ban celebrations of Christmas. If > religious tradition is immutable, why are we > discussing the removal of a cross and not a statue > of the Virgin Mary? Come to think of it, why don't > we return the chaple to it's rightful owner - the > Church of England? I believe Madison had it right > in his "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious > Assessments" that religion's dabbling in the state > and vice versa serves neither one well. My support > of church/state separartion is grounded in that > treatise. I do have an additional guide: those red > words in my NIV New Testament which strongly suggest > that the divine and the profane state should remain > seperate realms. Jesus rebelled against an > established religious authority which was entwined > with the state; one wonders why so many modern > evangelicals and fundamentalists seek exaclty the > opposite. Is the Gospel so weak that it needs the > crutch of government endorsement? I think not. The > Diety who created all reality is not going to wither > away and die if a nineteenth century cross is > removed from a many-times-over "restored" Wren > Chapel. > ________________________________ > > Dr. David S. Hardin > Assistant Professor of Geography > Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences > Longwood University > Farmville, Virginia 23909 > Phone: (434) 395-2581 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > > ******************** > "For as Geography without History > seemeth a carkasse without motion, > so History without Geography > wandreth as a Vagrant without a > certaine habitation." > John Smith, 1627 > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html