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I have no problem with public displays of religious art and sculpture, including Native American like this sculpture dedicated 2021 in the Gerald R Ford International Grand Rapids Airport (GRR).
 
I consider such presentations interesting and enriching.
 
But I also note that somehow Native American art is considered “cultural” rather than “religious.” Yet how could anyone read the artist’s interpretation of this art and not understand its religious symbolism?
 
I also note the public confusion that eagerly presents Native American religion while actively rejecting Christianity and Christian symbolism. In recent rears, advocacy groups promoting strict separation of church and state have argued that any display of religious iconography on public property is a violation of the US Constitution “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment.
 
Such groups, including the ACLU, have demanded the Christian cross be removed, not only from schools or government buildings, but even in military cemeteries.
 
So, too, monuments portraying the Ten Commandments have been removed, while Nativity scenes have been kept out of parks and public venues. Bibles have even been forced out of public university chapels.
 
Given these trends, I was therefore pleasantly surprised last Nov to see a sizable and attractive Nativity Crèche alongside the outdoor White House Christmas Tree in Washington, DC.
 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

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I'm not an artist. I wish I were, at least in the sense I could draw or paint or sculpt some rudimentary pieces of my own art. But in God's providence artistic talent is limited in my DNA.

What's not limited is an attraction to and an appreciation for art in all its forms. From divinely crafted breath-taking beauty in Creation to the art museum where most of us see great art, I like it all, even "modern art" with all it's weird presentations. I've visited the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art and other Smithsonian art museums in Washington, D.C. to name a few. I highly recommend them all.

Art and the ability to appreciate it, certainly the ability to create it, are gifts from God. This gift is part of us, human beings, part of our being made in the "image of God."

If to this point in your life you haven't enjoyed some form of art I urge you to try it now. Go to any reputable museum and ponder the beauty, the expression of human values and aspiration, or simply the sheer ingenuity involved in many forms of art. Think about what the artist was trying to say, what you like or dislike about a particular objet d'art, or what draws you to one form of art and perhaps not others.

That's another thing. Not everyone likes the same kind of art. This is one reason we have so many forms with which to interact. Find the art that you like and go from there. Your appreciation for other forms will likely grow in time, but even if it doesn't, you can enjoy what you like.

Here are a few more thoughts about the gift of art:

 

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2012

This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.