A granite monument sporting an engraved Bible scripture was recently installed on public property near Fort Worth’s Trinity Trails, and some folks aren’t happy about it. The monument was placed next to a new drinking fountain at the trailhead at Southwest Boulevard.
“It’s very impressive, but why on earth are they doing Christian biblical scripture on a public trail?” wondered a woman who walks on the trail regularly and called Static to complain. “I don’t believe in a governmental agency promoting a specific religion. That’s not what this country is based on. I’d like to know who did it and why they allowed it.”
Static went to have a look and talked to a cyclist who was resting near the fountain. The monument’s religious message didn’t bother the biker, but she dislikes spending taxpayer money on monuments when so much work is needed on city streets.
“If a private person or a church wants to [pay for it], that’s fine,” she said.
The engraved scripture is John 4:13: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling into eternal life.”
Religious-themed monuments in other parts of the country have spurred protracted legal battles. In Florida, the American Atheists were recently allowed to erect a granite monument on county property with quotes from secular figures, including group founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair. It sits next to a similar-sized monument featuring the Ten Commandments.
The monument on Trinity Trails involved no taxpayer money. A woman donated $6,000 for the new drinking fountain. The nonprofit Streams and Valleys allows private donors to inscribe a plaque of some sort whenever they donate money for benches or fountains. Oftentimes, the plaques honor loved ones. However, at least one other Christian-themed plaque is already in place along the trails.
“It’s been allowed in the past, and we felt like it would be all right to allow it this time as well,” said Valerie Jay, assistant director of Streams and Valleys.
However, no other religions are being discriminated against, she said.
“If someone wanted to donate a bench or a drinking fountain and wanted to put a scripture from the Koran, or a Hindu quote, or a Buddhist quote, it’s fine as long as it’s not inciting anyone,” she said.
I walk my dog there. He urinates on it every time.
I have a dog that urinates on you
That’s a somewhat misleading headline, since the State did not pay for the monument and would extend equal treatment. What’s the problem?
Hunh?
The person who wrote the article isn’t mentiones but its plain to see that they are antichrist and desiring to stir animosity towards christians and Jesus
what the… ?
The monument is on PUBLIC LAND. It does not belong there, as that is clearly a violation of the separation of church and state. THAT is where the headline comes in.
John, if I hear another moron say “Seperation of Church & State” I will scream. There is NO such statement in US Constiution, try reading it and get the White House to read it too. The ONLY constitution in the ENTIRE WORLD that uses phrase “separation of church and state” is SOVIET…so if religious freedom offends you Skippy, I suggest you relocate to Mother Russia.
Jeffy, you might read the following Freedom OF religion…NOT freedom from religion…people have right (know truth causes anguish Jeffy) to freedom to bleieve as they wish, not as YOU wish
See willl not kill you to acknowledge other rights
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
There is not such thing as Separation of Church and State…another leftist lie. Read, ignorant poster, read!!!
“Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “It is one of the misfortunes of the law that ideas become encysted in phrases, and thereafter for a long time cease to provoke further analysis.” The phrase, “separation of church and state,” has become one of these misfortunes of law.”
I don’t know why i continue to be staggered when people go out of their way to scorn. At its core, this mentality is undoing what once made us great.
By the way, the woman who originally called to complain about the monument prefaced her complaint by saying she was a lifelong Christian and regular church goer with a strong faith in God. But she did not believe specific religions should be celebrated on public/taxpayer properties, even her own religion. That doesn’t make her the antichrist or a provocateur.
How ignorant can you be, to think this nation was not founded on Christian beliefs? I laugh, daily, at the history revisionists that believe this leftist lie. It has become absurd. We are a Christian Nation, and a Christian State – if you don’t like it, move to atheistfornia.
It was not, and to believe it was is self delusional.
However, no other religions are being discriminated against, she said.
“If someone wanted to donate a bench or a drinking fountain and wanted to put a scripture from the Koran, or a Hindu quote, or a Buddhist quote, it’s fine as long as it’s not inciting anyone,” she said.
So, once again we have atheists/pagans crying over nothing, and showing their hatred towards Christians. Bigots.
Religious messages of any kind do not belong in public. Equality in this instance is a sham when it requires a donation to make it happen.
The city should know that many people do not want to be bothered by religious messages of any kind.