Re: Krishnas and Hamburgers, Catholics and Strippers

--On Monday, June 18, 2001 9:54 PM -0500 Kendall Clark 
<kendall-4GNy1lrxftmrG/[email protected]> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> This will eventually appear as a Monkeyfist editorial, but first I'm
> going to offer it as an opinion piece to the Dallas Morning News
> (hence it's < 750 words and tactical approach).

Indeed. It *reads* like an Op-ed piece <shudder/>
[snip]
> (757 words)
>
> One of Dallas's best-kept secrets is the Hare Krishna community in the
> Mount Auburn neighborhood of East Dallas. About twenty years ago, a
> group of Krishnas moved into a decaying neighborhood and began slowly
> tranforming it. Together with Mount Auburn's other residents, the
> Krishnas have reclaimed the neighborhood from the jaws of urban decay.

Ok, "best-kept secrets" got a pass, but *jaws of urban decay*???!?!?! This 
is not *Kendall Clark* that's writing this?!?!?!?!?

At the very least the decaying/decay repetition is annoying. How about 
'from urban blight'?

> But all that the Krishnas have worked to achieve is now threatened

Oh *c'mon*! The renewal of the neighborhood isn't threatened is it? I mean, 
the *Krishna's* might be miserable and leave but that's all to the good for 
gentrification, yes?

[snip]
> Strictly speaking, there's nothing about building a strip club
> directly across the street from, say, a Catholic church that
> constitutes an infringement of religious liberty. However sleazy the
> strip club is, the priest will still be able to deliver a homily,
> offer confession to the congregants, christen infants, give last rites
> at the local hospital, serve soup and bread and sweaters to the poor
> and needy. The congregants will still be able to attend mass and do
> all the other things that Catholics do.
>
> And so you might expect to find strip clubs and churches co-existing
> as uneasy neighbors throughout the country.
>But you'd be wrong. You'd
> be wrong

instead of the "you'd be wrong"s how about "But that's not the case 
because/since"

> because in every American city zoning restrictions and other
> laws say that you can't build a strip club near a church or school.
>
> While it isn't a violation of religious liberty, close proximity of a
> "sexually-oriented business" and a church is harmful to the fullest
> pursuit of religious liberty.

No, religious *liberty* isn't the issue. Religious *flourishing* is. It's 
not clear a all that this is a "nusience" zoning, i.e., designed to harass 
the Krishnas.

What of the *mutal* interest of the franchise and the Krishnas not to be 
near each other. Contrary to the franchisee's current thoughts, this 
*isn't* a good fit.

> Zoning laws are about balancing harms
> and helps, community and individual freedoms with commercial
> interests. They reflect the accumulation of a long moral conversation
> about the things a community values.

Ehh...drop the reflection accumulaton stuff. How about, "The larger 
community has a strong interest in encouraging community building endeavors 
like that of the Khrisnas.' only somewhat less awkwardly phrased.

> Dealing with a strip club is, for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hare
> Krishnas, and other religious people, an onerous, tiresome, and
> offensive burden. In fact, this is so obviously true, we don't even
> argue about it anymore. Over the course of 50 or so years, the
> argument about the harm that strip clubs cause churches has become
> ingrained in our laws and our customary practices. You can think of
> zoning laws forbidding the close proximity of strip clubs and churches
> as the community's settled moral conclusions about the issue.

Aside from the repetition, again, why make the *moral* appeal? Pure 
pragmatism wins. It's not just that 1) they'll alienate the khrisnas, but 
2) they'll likely degrade their efforts in that area, something no zoning 
board should want to do, and 3) they'll discourage other like efforts.

> But wait a minute, you're probably asking, a McDonald's isn't a strip
> club, is it? No, but then Christians and Krishnas aren't the same
> either. Vegetarianism is central to the Hare Krishna faith, a variant
> of Hinduism, which has practiced vegetarianism for many thousands of
> years in India and Asia.
>
> Asking Hare Krishna school children to suffer the odors and the trash
> of a busy McDonald's during playground recess is exactly analogous to
> asking Christians to worship at a church next door to a strip club. We
> don't even argue about the latter any more. If eastern religions
> continue to grow in America at their present rates, I suspect the
> Dallas zoning laws in 100 years will mean future Dallas citizens don't
> argue about the former either.

If this is the only mention or one of the few mentions of the "don't need 
to argue" that's ok. Don't overstress the point.

> The only relevant difference between McDonald's and strip clubs,
> Krishnas and Christians, is that the religious and cultural history of
> the United States, and of the average Dallas citizen, is full of
> experiences with Christianity and other western religions, but lacking
> much experience with Krishnas and other eastern religions.
>
> If respect for diversity and religious tolerance is really going to
> mean something, the test we must pass as citizens is whether we're
> willing to extend it to religions we don't understand very well,

Too hard. "Given the changing composistion of our city, we need to gain a 
broader yadd yadda yadda."

> even
> ones we can't imagines ourselves belonging to. At the very least, we
> should be sure the zoning commission consults with outside experts who
> can help make up for their cultural infamiliarity.  It isn't fair for
> them to make a decision without all the relevant facts.
>
> Until the zoning commssioners understand as much about Hare Krishnas
> and McDonald's as they do about Christians and strip clubs, any
> decision they makes is more likely to reflect cultural infamiliarity
> than the relgious tolerance that makes America a decent place to live.

Again, religious tolerance as such doens't seem like an all too highly 
sought value. Especially by a zoning board. They typically are held to be 
ought to be seeking the balanced, reasonable, sustained growth and health 
of the city. Alienating renewbies is clearly a bad idea.

Cheers,
Bijan.