This is exactly how I feel about this paper, and if you have time to read it, you will agree. **10 RALPH B. GUY, Jr., Senior Circuit Judge, concurring. Although I have labeled my participation in this decision a concurrence, as will readily become apparent, it is much more akin to a dissent. As the majority notes, the “offending” religious artifact here is a reproduction of a famous portrait.2 Copies of this painting can be found all over the United States as well as abroad. Most persons have seen a copy dozens of times in various and sundry locations, probably without paying it any particular heed. It no more conveys the notion of the “establishment” of a religion than a statue of Robert E. Lee in a park suggests we should dissolve the Union. It has hung on the school wall for 30 years, and the only result that is evident is that the school population has become more religiously diverse over time as has our entire Country. For me at least, a discussion of “psychological damage” resulting from viewing this picture does implicate an “establishment”—but not one of religion. What is established is a class of “eggshell” plaintiffs of a delicacy never before known to the law. I can well understand that someone (perhaps this plaintiff) in some sense could be offended by this portrait, but “injured” is another matter. In this multicultural world that young persons are entering today, I would hope our schools are turning out people with a little more resiliency than is evidenced here. I do not mean to suggest that the “appropriateness” of this picture in the school is not a legitimate issue for discussion, but it ought to be resolved within the school context. In this age, this picture hanging alone might reflect some insensitivity to the diversity that is now America. But let us tackle the problem with some good old Yankee ingenuity—lobby for a course in comparative religions; put a picture of Martin Luther King on the wall; form a Zen Buddhist club; wear a t-shirt proclaiming the virtues of agnosticism; but, if I am permitted to use the expression, for heavens sake, stay out of the courthouse and quit trivializing the Constitution!
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 03:50:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015