Driving a Red Arrow into cold objectivism

SBT Editor
There was Mayor John Norquist, flanked by four area religious leaders at Red Arrow Park — the public square in downtown Milwaukee dedicated to Wisconsin’s famous 32nd Division — soldiers whose bravery in World War I and World War II is legendary.
Norquist, son of a Presbyterian minister, was leading a gathering in prayer — prayers for those who, like the members of the Red Arrow division, would protect us and defend freedoms in the coming years in the world’s new war on terrorism.
A similar scene played out earlier in the day as the mayor joined Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum at the statue of Gen. Tadeauz Kosciuszko, the Polish military hero who helped America win its freedom. The mayor and the governor were at Kosciuszko Park on the city’s south side to help celebrate another step in the rebirth of Lincoln Avenue as a vibrant commercial district.
But the celebration didn’t begin with a reading from the tracts of Adam Smith or some other renowned economist. And it didn’t include any militaristic calls for our soldiers to crush the enemy.
The Kosciuszko Park event started out with prayer — the Lord’s Prayer, said in Polish, Spanish and English to respect the area’s historic and current ethnicities.
Neither the mayor nor the governor initiated the prayers at the two county parks. Those were led by a diverse group such as the archbishop, a local Islamic leader, a priest of the Polish National Catholic Church, and a Sikh priest.
And while the Kosciuszko Park event was scheduled as a business event, the Red Arrow Park event was specifically a religious event.
Anne Gaylor of the Freedom from Religion Foundation must be having fits these days, with all the public appeals for divine guidance and consolation. (The foundation put out a news release in the wake of Sept. 11, in a shallow manner criticizing President Bush for including “prayer” in the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.)
As I stood at Red Arrow Park listening to the Christian, Islamic and Sikh leaders offer supplications, I thought of a marble monument a block away — also on public property. It’s a rendition of the 10 Commandments — words held sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. And words that the city will now relieve itself of, fearing a lawsuit over the city’s perceived support of the religious monument’s statements.
It’s interesting how we fear and shun religion when times are good, but when times aren’t so good and we realize that we can’t make it on our own, we of different faiths come together to ask for guidance and comfort from above or beyond.
We might have left that prayer gathering at Red Arrow Park and walked over to read the 10 Commandments for some of that guidance.
— While the Market Street site that hosts the 10 Commandments will soon change, downtown Milwaukee’s skyline has already changed as a result of Sept. 11. Colored banners that once fluttered from flag poles atop many downtown buildings have been replaced with the Stars and Stripes. The display of the banners of various colors goes back to the previous mayoral administration when then-Mayor Henry Maier urged their posting to brighten up downtown. The US flags look nicer, and they mean something. I recall being asked by a group of German tourists a few years back what the colored banners stood for. Nothing, I said.
Oct. 12, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee