To be a Christian you do not need a picture or painting of Jesus in your office wall. If you look at the commandaments, this was only meant to be taken in your heart and soul and not on display.
Dr.Q

I agree that Christians don't need pictures or paintings. However, to shut everyone up about such trivial stuff, why not put a plack next to it explaining who painted it, a brief history of why it ended up there( treat it as a museum piece) and get on with important things like "love one another as I have loved you"? From what I have studied about Jesus, he would be really angry that all the expense and discord is going on while "His" lambs are starving. Mawgy

If we think about what Jesus would do if he suddenly were to arrive on Earth today I'd say the first thing would be to stop that idiotic bloody fighting in the mideast, and then house and feed all the homeless people, free all the incarcerated people who don't belong in prisons -- either because they were wrongly accused and convicted or just because they aren't dangerous to society, and then he would start cleaning house in these churches run by greedy men in the interest of financial and political gain who are using their members to vote their way in order to push their own political agendas which are in no way Christian or Godly or righteous. I think we would see the last of the men like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and the rest of the televangelists whose greed is behind their blasphemy.

The issue of the picture of Jesus at school is really a non-issue since there are no real pictures of Christ; it is but one person's concept of how he looked that caught on -- but it means nothing, anyway, other than a symbol which gets real close to the false idols or idolitry idea condemned in the Bible. Any way you look at that whole thing it's all negatives & shouldn't even be a thought in anybody's head. What does stand out is that there are control freaks out of control who are trying to shove one religion down the throats of every school child, an effort to brainwash the masses by a poltical contingent with the agenda they are pushing kept behind the picture of Jesus which is used to disguise the nefarious agenda of those who are pushing it as an issue -- much like Bush has used the alleged terrorist threat to manipulate people through all the fear he can invoke with 9/11 held up as the picture in that scenario -- falsely covering the fact that Bush IS the terrorist behind 9/11.

The scary thing is that these men operating under the guise of Christianity are schooling lawyers some of whom will no doubt go into politics and it sure doesn't require a rocket scientist to see what this is all about or where this whole agenda is heading which isn't a good thing for America at all. If we are to remain here in America as America whose citizens are free people who live in a democracy where it is designed to be fair to all citizens via separation of church from state we must not ignore what is going on under the surface that would end it all for America and her people
forever.

If these so called religions are going to get into politics
as they definitely have and are then they should lose the tax exemption they were given only because they were there to help the poor instead of the government doing it which required churches to remain separate from government, the agreement that has now been broken; thus tax exemption is no longer warranted. Let the churches trying to disquise the political ambitions their leaders harbor under a cloak of sincere religious belief be yanked out of the closet so all are aware of the true intentions within. It seems to me that some people would like to have this information prior to joining up as one of the many members who tithe to them -- so they'd know where their money is going to go. After all, there may still be a few actual Christians out here that want their tithes to go for the purpose of, oh, something like feeding hungry people or providing shelter to the homeless -- not for a political campaign to elect a corrupt and evil person to an office of the government.

It can't be that hard to train Falwell's "lieutenants for the Lord".

After all, don't they just have 10 laws to memorize? You know, the ones Christians break over and over again...

I agree with Marlene and would add to the lament by saying that what is tragic is that in the mainstreaming and conversion of Christianity, the gentle hearted religious persons I was raised amongst seem to have no place anymore. Hopefully these people [I'm not religious personally] can raise their voices againstthe corruption or at least break from the 'new church' and hold on to the best of what they had. Of course, it deserves saying that the Church has played its bloody part in many politically and economically orchestrated ways since its inception.

Why is that the Muslims seem to keep to their commandments but Christians don't? Isn't the first commandment "No Graven Images"? Doesn't that mean that we're not to make pictures of God or Jesus? Other than the cartoons in Belgium, has anyone here ever even heard of a pictue of Mohommad? Wasn't the big deal about the Belgian cartoons that it was an image of Mohommad, not necessarily that it was a cartoon? Seems to me that all these Bible-beaters are going to straight to hell!

The most diturbing aspects of these legions of Religion Industry lawyers is that almost 100% of them are influenced, to some degree or another, by the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

This group is the single most dangerous influence in the Religion Industry. They openly advocate using American freedoms in order to seize power and eliminate them.

They're serious about it. We'd better be serious about stopping them.

I wonder if this new breed of "lawyer" will practice niche lawyering that combines adjudication of violation of civil / criminal law, and the Ten Commandments. Since Bush violates commandments and laws with equal vigor, he might a great client for these freaks.

Styve

Actually, if you read the commandment about "graven images" you will see that "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of ANYTHING in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." (NIV)In other words NO images of ANYTHING-no photographs, paintings, etc. Of course, fundamentalists are showing they are being selective because almost everyone of them has photos of their loved ones, have no problens with movies or any images except when it suits them to use it bash people who are different from them. This selectivity extends across the board to a whole list of things. That's what happens when you are idiotic enough to believe that the Bible and its meaning have always meant the same thing at all times without reference to context and history or situations.

falwell, robertson, dobson et.al are NOT christians ... they're actually anti-christians ... read the new testament or more precisely the words attributed to jesus ... it's not rocket science ... jesus was clearly a socialist, a pacifist and practiced unconditional love ... unconditional love holds no judgement or intolerance toward others.

I think all of the above are valid points. It is scary that there is such a deliberate movement [kincaid] to undo freedon by the 'new' Christians. Where are the McCarthyite hearings, the scandals and the condemnation of this agenda? We need to find a way to attack this socially parasytic group without it being confused with an attack on Christainity wholesale. I guess, though, that it would be spun that way no matter what.

What needs to be pointed out is that these RW so called christians are misrepresenting what they are trying to do.

For example, it is legal for any student to voluntarily pray on his or her own in public school. What Falwell is trying to do is have schools force children to pray.

For example, it is legal for a child to bring a bible to school. What Falwell is trying to do is to have schools force all children to read their bible.

We must do a better job of explaining these distinctions.

Big Dave is right because it starts as something like 'why can't we keep this picture of Jesus up on the wall - it's perty!/' and leads to 'Oh? So you'r a Jew? Hmm. Interesting. You know, not to change the subject, but you need a shower. Here's a hall pass..."
This question of seperation of church and state is something we must be rigid on. Government institutions must remain nuetral in areas of religion and faith. The lines are getting blurrier and this must not happen. I believe firmly that the essense of freedom in the Constitution is correct and not to be tampered with on this subject.