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Arianna Huffington and Harry Shearer

the breakfast table:
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Re: The Freedom to Pray and to Vend

By Harry Shearer
Posted Thursday, June 4, 1998, at 7:36 PM ET

"Cramming of religious beliefs down agnostic throats" is exactly why James Dobson and his flock want this amendment passed. Silent prayer, between oneself and one's deity, has never been threatened by any court. The desire is to use majority status--in the classroom, or in city hall--to bully minorities into participating in that in which they do not believe. Public expression in appropriate places is rampant--or haven't you seen the menorahs and creches that crowd the homeless folks out of LA's parks every December? Rep. Istook's formulation is instructive: "Since God was kicked out of the schools, the guns and the drugs and the gangs have moved into the schools." This is not a measure to allow for personal expression, this is an attempt to legitimize enforced religious practice as a means of social control.

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Ooh, sorry to get heavy there. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who buys food from a New York street vendor deserves what he gets, gustatorily and otherwise. But I do think what Giuliani is trying to do in taking aim at Gotham's incivility is fascinating; he seems to be attempting to change a city's culture by sheer municipal bullying. It's goofy in the extreme, but if it works, think of the example it will set: we can look forward to LA Mayor Riordan's War on Narcissism.

Harry Shearer