Dingus

Hello Everyone,
I am a first-time poster on this forum, and I want to tell you something which is important to me and hope it is to you as well. After you read my post completely, tell me what you think.

*****

Calling All People of the USA Who Want to Keep Church and State Separate:


The other day I purchased eight 4-cent stamps and found to my surprise and regret that it portrayed a Catholic icon - Father Flanagan, founder of “Boys Town”.

Needing to release my tension and to complain to the appropriate source in the United States Postal Service, I began searching the Internet and found this page:

http://www.usps.com/news/fyi/csacinfo.htm

This group is responsible for determining who or what goes on our stamps and they are
“The Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee”
and they have a list of guidelines they follow - well, at least they are supposed to follow them, however, #9
on this list has been ignored for some reason, here is the paragraph:

“9. Stamps or stationery items
shall not be issued
to honor religious institution individuals
whose principle achievements
are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.”
(the word ‘not’ from this line is underlined for emphasis on my part.)

Since, Mr. Flanagan is called ‘Father’ which constitutes a religious belief, I am exchanging the religious 4-cent stamps for 3-cent and 1-cent stamps for there are no other 4-cent stamps available - my only choice of the 4-cent stamp was/is the religious one.

And, now I am writing to all interested parties so you too can write this committee since on the very first page, second paragraph, of their site it reads:

“Almost all subjects chosen to appear on U.S. stamps and postal stationery are suggested by the public. Each year, Americans submit proposals to the Postal Service on literally thousands of different topics. Every stamp suggestion is considered, regardless of who makes it or how it is presented.”


. Here is the address:

CITIZENS’ STAMP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
475 L’ENFANT PLAZA, S.W., ROOM 5670
WASHINGTON, DC 20260-2437

Please do not delay in writing to this committee as it takes years for them to make a decision as per section titled “The Stamp Selection Process”, paragraph one, and I can only imagine how long it will take them to remove a stamp from being processed.

And, I hope you do write your hearts out and pass this message on as many times as you can.

Sincerely,

Dingus

(Pass it on, please)

RufusAtticus

What is the big deal? He's properly refered to as Father Flanagan. You can't throw a person out for his name. He's on the stamp from creating Boy's Town, not for being a priest.

http://www.girlsandboystown.org/aboutus/index.asp

Where is the violation of the policy?

Dingus

To me it's kind of a big deal because the government issued stamps are promoting the Catholic religion - the useage of the name 'Father' is ordained by a religion, in this case the Catholic religion. Personally, I call no one Father except my very own Dad and I do not believe in the Catholic church to be the almighty organization that I must honor by purchasing a government stamp that no doubt in my mind - promotes Catholicism.

Saying that, it was nice of Mr. Edward Flanagan to help the poor kids, however, it was through his connections with the Catholic church that he did so...why couldn't they have used his 'real' name? Okay, if he had his named legally changed, the whole thing definitely relates to the religious aspect.

The Catholic church is a religious institution, Father Flanagan had the ordained name of "Father" only because of the Catholic Church and the "whole principle achievements" of Father Flanagan" are associated with the religious icon. See below.

"9. Stamps or stationery items
shall not be issued
to honor religious institution individuals
whose principle achievements
are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.”

:

Toto

There was a prior thread on creating a stamp for a freethough hero.

It sounds like Father Flanagan's admirers lobbied the stamp commission. He is being honored for his service to society, not to his church, so this fits the guidelines. But -

"Nonsectarian" does not mean nonreligious.

From http://www.mackinac.org/1338 :

Dingus

The other day I called the post office and asked if I could exchange the 4-cent stamps for other 4-cent stamps - their response, was yes.

Funny, the rural mail carrier ( I live in the country) wrote me this note and it makes me think she didn't even try to exchange them:

"Mrs. ******,

I went ahead and exchanged the .04 stamps for 16 .02 stamps. For future reference, once stamps have left our possession we are not able to exchange them, I was told for health reasons. It is the policy of the post office. ( I purchased the .02 and will keep the .04 to use myself)

Amie

mountain. molehill.

Dingus

Amie:

You said:



Would you think it making a mountain out of a molehill if say a

dictator's picture was distributed by the USA government via

stamps bought and paid for - solely supported by the public

monies? Especially, if the dictator was staunchly against your

religious beliefs or whatever belief - say the promotion of hunting

and killing animals for sport?

butswana

Boystown isn't secular. The boy(and girls now) must attend church services and participate in mandatory prayer. National Goegraphic had an article about a few months ago in the "zip code" column.

GaryP

Dingus--

Those who think this is not too important are simply not looking at it as you are.

This is the kind of thing which I personally don't mind too much, but there are other things that I do care about which others seem to think are not important.

I think it's great that you went to the trouble to register your complaint.

Some say that Atheists should not say hardly anything but just be good people and suddenly Religious folk will re-consider the animosity they feel toward us and start taking down Nativity Scenes and 10C's , etc.

IMO, it's the cumulative effect of all these "trivial" separation issues which give the majority the feeling of entitlement which we see every day.

And I think the guidline you cited could be used as a reason to not include Mr. Flanagan, but I can see the viewpoint also.

Dingus

Thanks for the support, GaryP.,

You hit the nail on the head - “The cumulative effect of all these “trivial” separation issues…”, and I do think it is the way to keep communicating our disappointment in the government’s proselytizing religion upon all the people of USA.

It would be nice if the opposition would ‘suddenly re-consider’ as you said.