Tag Archive for ‘First Amendment’
Don’t Know Much About Ben Franklin
Today is the birthday of America’s first international celebrity and most consistently interesting Founding Father. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.
With little formal education, he became a writer, printer, philanthropist, philosopher, political leader and scientist. Franklin, alongside Thomas Jefferson, was probably the best example of the American Enlightenment Man. And, like [...]
Myths of Christmas (3): Who started the “War on Christmas?”
During the past few years, the so-called “War on Christmas” has been a staple of conservative broadcasters and the religious right. Their basic idea: Christmas is under attack by Grinchy atheists and secular humanists who want to remove any vestige of Christianity from the public space. Any criticism of public space devoted to religious displays [...]
A Lady and a Penguin — Not a “Dirty Story”
Generally, we don’t associate the iconic Penguin Books with “dirty books.” And neither did a British jury. On November 2, 1960, Penguin won a landmark British publishing case when Lady Chatterley’s Lover was deemed “not obscene” by a jury of three women and nine men. Penguin had published the novel, written in 1928, to mark [...]
Of Columbus Day and Crosses
“It’s the — the cross is the — is the most common symbol of — of — of the resting place of the dead.”
Those were the words of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia during a Supreme Court questioning session. The case involves a cross honoring veterans that has been placed on federal lands. The [...]
TODAY in HISTORY: Roger Williams and San Francisco
It is one of those curious coincidences of American history. But on this date–October 9th– Roger Williams, a dissident preacher, was “banned from Boston” (in 1635) and Junipero Serra dedicated Mission Dolores in what would become San Francisco (in 1776).
Separated by more than century and a continent, they might seem like unconnected events. But these [...]
TODAY IN HISTORY: The “Monkey Trial”
It was the “trial of the century.” On July 10, 1925, a courtroom in Tennessee was center stage in a contest pitting two courtroom titans against each other, arguing science versus religion on a grand scale, with the full cooperation of an enthusiastic pack of journalists more interested in a spectacle. Imagine that!
In real fact, [...]
