Presidential Prayer Site Steals Steeple |
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CHURCH & STATE DEPT.
This week we got the following letter from a sharp-eyed reader and it seemed
just strange enough to merit a little attention. Not much, mind you, but it isn’t
every week that the so-called "religious right" cops something from your web site.
Grampa told us to avoid talking politics and religion when possible. Sorry, gramps.
Dear SeacoastNH.com
Hello, I am writing in reference to a photograph that I saw on another web site
that apparently originated from your web site. Evidently your company permitted
a political group called "Presidential Prayer Team for Kids" to use a photograph of a church spire on its web site. This photograph depicts
a church, apparently in New Hampshire, and the photo is inset against a photo
of the Capitol building in Washington. Frankly, I think this is downright bizarre,
and I'm wondering why you permitted this group to use your photograph. Does your
company advocate diminishing the separation of church and state?
Chris Woodward
Dear Chris,
Thanks for your heads-up on the purloined North Church picture that appeared
in Presidential Prayer Team for Kids. No, we did not authorize its use, to our
knowledge, since we do not own the reprint rights. The picture is by a local artist
and came to us via an email as part of a press release from the Fran Mallon Art
Gallery in town. We ran it briefly in our "Top Events" section.
The picture was "borrowed", as far as we know, without permission. This happens
to us a lot, although not usually from prayer groups. You’d think they would know
better.
But we are impressed that the group thought to offer a credit line. That is rare.
Most people simply steal images with impunity. So we have to credit this group
for their honest dishonesty.
But by crediting us, as your letter shows Chris, there is an implied consent
on our part. So be assured that we are not secretly members of a political propaganda
group trying to push religion back into government using the Internet and the
impressionable minds of children.
That raises another thorny point. Had this group come to us and asked for permission
to use a picture of a church steeple from our files, would we have granted it?
We don’t see why not. We have plenty of other North Church steeple pix in our
archive. Heck, they shrunk it down to the size of a postage stamp (see below).
We’re certainly mindful of the power of prayer, and of the president’s great
need for as much as he can muster. We are not opposed to teaching children the
facts about the founding of America either. A great many of the early settlers
to this nation, for example, did not come for religious freedom, and most who
did, did not find it here. They certainly did not find it in 17th century Virginia or Massachusetts, where even Christians with differing views
from the governing body could be booted out of town, tortured or even killed legally.
In Maryland even blacks who converted to Christianity were still legally slaves
for life. Native Americans were converted then driven from their homeland. Our
view of religious tolerance today is a far cry from what our forefathers called
tolerance. We’ve come a long way.
The framers of our Declaration and Constitution were often not regular church
goers themselves (Washington and Franklin and Jefferson, especially), but they
certainly had a core of religious belief that they sought to both protect and
to keep at arm’s length from government office holders. They knew full well the
destruction and division that had occurred in England when the king also served
as the head of the official English church.
Let’s teach our kids the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That
way we can raise new generations of Americans who are wise enough to follow the
spirit of our laws and not just the letter. With enough prayer, we may find ourselves
in a new era of forgiveness and mutual respect. Maybe with enough spiritual guidance,
we can find a kinder, safer, smarter road than the destructive path we appear
to be on. And in that spirit, to those who took our steeple – hey dudes, we forgive
you.
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