The State of Ohio is planning to build a Holocaust Memorial on government property near its state house. Like most such memorials around the world, this one will include the Star of David.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation, an atheist group, is protesting the existence of the Star of David on the monument, on the grounds that the Star of David is a religious symbol.
Personally I’ve never agreed with the claim that it’s unconstitutional to have a religious symbol on government property. However, it seems to me obvious that if anyone agrees with the judges who have ruled that way, then the Star of David on this monument and numerous others will have to go.
Some will say that the Star of David is not actually a religious symbol, or that it is both a religious and non-religious symbol. However, that’s a rather thin argument.
As an atheist, I feel the need to state that I think this is possibly one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. Even if it IS a religious symbol rather than a national one, it’s not like the event the state is memorializing isn’t sort of intimately intertwined with that religion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is arguing that the planned memorial is “exclusionary” towards other groups that suffered in the Holocaust. Here’s the inscription for the monument:
Inspired by the Ohio soldiers who were part of the American liberation and survivors who made Ohio their home.
If you save one life, it is as if you have saved the world.
In remembrance the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and millions more including prisoners of war, ethnic and religious minorities, homosexuals, the mentally ill, the disabled, and political dissidents who suffered under Nazi Germany. *
So tell me how that’s “exclusionary”. :dubious:
One can argue whether a Holocaust memorial is a project the state of Ohio should undertake, but claiming that it’s a) an improper endorsement of religion and b) “exclusionary” is c) stupid stupid stupid.
Apparently there was some sort of competition, and the Star of David design was picked over the designs of semi-finalists Jaume Plensa and Ann Hamilton.
Compare the number of people that recognize the Statue Of Liberty to the number of people that know what any of the several plaques that are at or near the base of the statue say. Unless all pictures of the Holocaust Memorial come with the inclusionary inscription, what will come across to a lot of people is that this is a memorial to Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
Pick one objection or the other. Either this atheist organization is wrong because the Holocaust Monument honors all that were massacred equally, or they are wrong because they object to a Monument that honors Jews.
I’m pretty sure the reason the U.S. Government puts the Star Of David on the tombstones of those of claim Judaism as their religion is different from the reason the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars, so I’m wondering why you brought it up.
What should come across to people is that Jews were the primary target of the Holocaust, and realizing this fact is central to understanding the Holocaust. From the article referenced in my previous link:
*" The ultimate aim and the primary target never varied. Others were murdered in the course of the Final Solution, e.g. Gypsies, Russian POWs, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and so on, but the first and constant target was always the Jews. The Final Solution was intended for the Jews, was about the Jews and chiefly affected the Jews. There is no denying that, without the Jews, there is no Final Solution."
“To minimize or trivialize the “Jewishness” of the Final Solution is to seriously understate, if not, unintentionally perhaps, deny its essence. This does not mean that the suffering of other groups is to be ignored; on the contrary, it was terrible. But without the Holocaust, without the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”, the others live. The term “holocaust” was coined to describe the uniquely Jewish aspect of the Final Solution. It does not seek to negate the suffering of the other victims.”*
The last thing atheists need is to be identified with yahoos who gripe that “Jooz are monopolizing the Holocaust for their own benefit”.
I support the establishment of an Ohio Holocaust Memorial. The last victims are dying off, memories are fading, and there’s still education to be done.
