Troy Moon

tmoon@pnj.com

The Great Cross Debate: So, State Rep. Matt Gaetz has challenged one of his Democratic challengers for the First Congressional District seat, Amanda Kondrat'yev to a debate about the Bayview Cross remaining on public land. I've written a few times about the cross issue before saying that, as a heathen, I have no objection to it and looked at the cross as a bit of local history. No harm, no foul, you know. But, of course, the cross is being challenged after more than 50 years of standing quietly overlooking Bayou Texar.

Gaetz's debate challenge is a good idea. But, when he says this in a news release, it stirs up trouble in my mind:

"In Northwest Florida, we have a deep and abiding faith in God, and we enjoy exercising our right to religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. Now, our religious liberty is under attack by far-left liberals like Amanda...Religious freedom is one of our most basic rights as Americans."

He then challenged her to a "Lincoln-Douglas-style debate" about the cross, which she accepted.

Gaetz issues debate challenge over Bayview Cross

Wow. I was with you Rep. Gaetz until you actually started talking about the issue.

First off, the old-school "far-left liberals" tag is such a tired cliche. If that's evidence of Gaetz's debate style, it doesn't exactly recall "Lincoln-Douglas."

Then, the talk about religious freedom. No one is trying to stifle your religious freedom. Kondrat'yev doesn't want to lock your church, confiscate your Bible or keep you from worshiping. You can worship 24-7 in this country. So no religious freedom is being challenged. What's being challenged is a cross - the symbol of the Christian faith - on public land for more than 50 years. (It didn't seem like a big deal to me as it was tucked away far from most people's eye. Just a tranquil white cross overlooking Bayou Texar. I thought it was kind of neat. It would be different if it was a crucifix, but an empty plain cross? No biggie.)

But, like Kondrat'yev (and others) have said "If it were a satanic symbol or a Muslim symbol, they would be livid."

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And she's probably right. (Though I think it's a great idea to maybe have a collection of symbols of various world religions. We're dunces when it comes to knowledge of religions other than our own - usually the one we were born into.) Because though I don't have a problem with the cross, I also don't have a problem with celebrating the religious freedom of all - including our Muslim neighbors, our Jewish neighbors, our heathen and pagan neighbors and our Buddhist neighbors who, by the way, will celebrate the birthday of the Buddha at 10 a.m. Sunday at Dieu De Temple off Nine Mile Road.

Christianity might be the most prominent religion in the country. But that doesn't mean it needs to be protected - or challenged - any more or less than any other faith. That's religious freedom.

So Rep. Gaetz, I was with you on the issue until you started talking about it. You might want to rethink that debate unless you want to do more harm to your cause than good.