Re[Bavarian triumphalism

[Michael McConnell]

In connection with the Bavarian crucifix case, Sandy
Levinson asks:
>
> Does everyone on this list agree that this would be (and ought to
> be) an easy case in the US, i.e., that the state most certainly could
> not display a crucifix in a public school.

This strikes me as an un-Levinsonian question. What does he
mean by it? Does he mean to ask whether the same result
would obtain if there were a region of the U.S. with a
1,000 year tradition that would be disrupted, or if the
U.S. had never adopted a constitutional amendment
disestablishing religion at the state level? Isn't this
like asking whether it would be an "easy case" for Bavaria
to remove the Stars and Bars from flying over the lander
capitol? Can issues of this sort be ripped from their
cultural context?
-- Michael McConnell (U of Utah)