I think your comment on martyrdom is true. But my "10 Commandments" comment was intended to point out that back then no one even thought about the fact that they were allowing a religious symbol on a public square in clear violation of the Constitution. And those in charge, a.k.a. WASPS, were fine with that. But it's not that they sat do…
I think your comment on martyrdom is true. But my "10 Commandments" comment was intended to point out that back then no one even thought about the fact that they were allowing a religious symbol on a public square in clear violation of the Constitution. And those in charge, a.k.a. WASPS, were fine with that. But it's not that they sat down and really thought about it and had an argument for why it was OK. In their minds, it was OK because it had always been OK. It was the natural order of things. And once society and the courts started pointing out to them that it really wasn't OK, they felt under attack. And the resentment started. It never occurred to them to acknowledge that they had been given a privileged position all those years. For many years, they had been giving the orders. Now they were being forced to take some orders, and they didn't like it one bit. When I was in high school (a long time ago) a group of local churches sponsored an out-of-town Evangelical group to come and speak at the local churches. Then those same Evangelicals came and preached at my high school the next day during an assembly. And no one (including me) thought that was out of line. It was just the way it was.
And, in my opinion, this mindset continues today with the various "religious liberty" arguments. They want their religious beliefs to "trump" the duly passed laws of the various states. So a business can't discriminate against anyone in the general public for any reason - race, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, you name it. The one exception is religion (not the customer's religion, but the owner's). Why is that OK?
I think your comment on martyrdom is true. But my "10 Commandments" comment was intended to point out that back then no one even thought about the fact that they were allowing a religious symbol on a public square in clear violation of the Constitution. And those in charge, a.k.a. WASPS, were fine with that. But it's not that they sat down and really thought about it and had an argument for why it was OK. In their minds, it was OK because it had always been OK. It was the natural order of things. And once society and the courts started pointing out to them that it really wasn't OK, they felt under attack. And the resentment started. It never occurred to them to acknowledge that they had been given a privileged position all those years. For many years, they had been giving the orders. Now they were being forced to take some orders, and they didn't like it one bit. When I was in high school (a long time ago) a group of local churches sponsored an out-of-town Evangelical group to come and speak at the local churches. Then those same Evangelicals came and preached at my high school the next day during an assembly. And no one (including me) thought that was out of line. It was just the way it was.
And, in my opinion, this mindset continues today with the various "religious liberty" arguments. They want their religious beliefs to "trump" the duly passed laws of the various states. So a business can't discriminate against anyone in the general public for any reason - race, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, you name it. The one exception is religion (not the customer's religion, but the owner's). Why is that OK?