By Seth Richardson
Atheists and Secularists can calm down, the celebration planned in Manitou Springs honoring the Greek goddess Hebe, who’s been surveying her domain from atop the town clock for 118 years now, won’t threaten the Republic with an unlawful establishment of state religion after all.
After Gazette reporter Andrea Brown wrote about a case of mistaken idolatry in the February 7th edition, questions were raised about whether a planned “Celebration of Hebe” being sponsored by Historic Manitou Springs, the local historical society, would constitute a First Amendment violation of the separation of church and state.
It seems that for all these years Hebe has been standing in the shadow of her more famous cousin, Hygeia. Historian Deborah Harrison discovered that the goddess who graces the town clock is actually Hebe, the daughter of Zeus, and the goddess of eternal youth.
Historic Manitou Springs has ordered 15 statues of Hebe that will be painted by local artists for a celebration in May, and then sold to benefit the historical society.
When the story hit the papers, some comments were heard about potential violations of the “wall of separation” between church and state. Hebe is after all a Greek goddess, and as such, a state-sponsored or funded celebration in her honor could be viewed as a religious event.
This is not the only time that Hebe has been dissed by government. Back in 2005, the city of Roseburg, Oregon had it’s own little Hebe-teapot tempest going. It seems that back in 1908, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the ’95 Mental Culture Club erected a fountain in Roseburg dedicated to temperance, and topped it with a statue of Hebe.
According to a 2005 story by reporter John Sowell in Roseburg’s The News Review, the Douglas County Museum of History & Natural History had planned an exhibit of a Hebe statue as part of a display about the historic fountain during Women’s History Month. A group of Roseburg residents had been gathering funds and were hoping to reconstruct the fountain and statue, which was destroyed in 1912. The Douglas County Commissioners banned the museum exhibit, saying “this issue is very divisive in our county.”
It seems as though critics thought that Hebe was an anti-Christian icon, claiming it was associated with paganism and Wicca, a claim denied by both Wiccans and Pagans.
But not to worry, the Celebration of Hebe in Manitou Springs is a privately funded event by Historic Manitou Springs, which is not a government agency, so there’s no First Amendment implications.
People should feel free to attend the celebration, which Deborah Harrison describes as “a celebration of our statue, not worship.” Go ahead and bid on a Hebe statute and express your own freedom of religion and right to freedom of assembly, and help out a very worthy cause in the process. Oh, and you might want to grab a sip of water at the town fountain, just in case it has been blessed by Hebe and actually is the fountain of youth. You just never know.
© 2009 Altnews
I thought that was obvious. That statue has been in place for over 100 years. Did the government just now start facilitating this event, or any of the other events held in Manitou by the town clock?
Of the hundreds of events held around that clock, as far as I know, the statute has not been an issue. Like you said, it’s a private organization (one I wouldn’t want anything to do with), that is holding the event, so someone is making a mountain out of a mole hill, me thinks.
So my question is, what’s the problem? To me, the “wall of separation” question is a knee jerk reaction by those that think they are the guardians of a religious free society.
Jefferson never meant that a government can’t allow or even mention something religious, as witness the opening of Congress with a prayer.
I think some people just have nothing better to do than get hysterical about religion in the public square. It should be a non issue.
Well, Objective Truth, the question was whether or not the government was facilitating the event, not interfering with it. Since the event is being run by a private organization, it’s not an issue.
If people want to worship some stupid idol, so what? Let them. Let them dance around in a circle, chanting, praying to a god of stone on the town clock, worshiping the wind, rain, sun, mother earth, what have you.
The government has no business interfering with the right of people to worship the way they see fit.
That stone god has been on the clock all this time, and I see no reason to whine about it now.
Not only has our country been ruined by greed, it also has been ruined by the political correctness that has gotten totally out of control.
Please, I want my country back. I’ll take the 50s any day compared to this sick country we have now.