"As above, so below; as below, so above."

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument tomorrow in a case that presents interesting arguments about regarding the First Amendment. Benen has a good summary:

Across the street from City Hall [in Pleasant Grove City, Utah] sits a
small park with about a dozen donated buildings and objects -- a wishing well, a
millstone from the city's first flour mill and an imposing red granite monument
inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Thirty miles to the north, in Salt Lake City, adherents of a religion
called Summum gather in a wood and metal pyramid hard by Interstate 15 to
meditate on their Seven Aphorisms, fortified by an alcoholic sacramental nectar
they produce and surrounded by mummified animals.

In 2003, the president of the Summum church wrote to the mayor here with a proposal: the church wanted to erect a monument inscribed with the Seven Aphorisms in the city park, "similar in size and nature" to the one devoted to the Ten Commandments.

The city declined, a lawsuit followed and a federal appeals court ruled
that the First Amendment required the city to display the Summum monument. The
Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in the case, which could produce
the most important free speech decision of the term.

This case illustrates exactly what I hate about religion in this country. All these people who cry that we need more religion in this country only want more religion, if it is THEIR religion. I mean, Pleasant Grove City, supported by more than 20 cities and states, along with the federal government, has told the Supreme Court that the upshot of affirming the appeals court decision would be to clutter public parks across the nation with offensive nonsense.

The sheer fact that some may find their beliefs "offensive nonsense" does not matter. Hippocrit, thy name is you.