Greenville subsidizes religious art

[Robert O'Brien]

>Rick Duncan wrote:
>>I think Sandy has a point about a city's decision to provide a $30,000
>>subsidy to the Bob Jones Museum of Art. But in calculating whether the
>>city has advanced religion, shouldn't we look at *all* city spending
>>on art (e.g. art purchased for public schools, public buildings,
>>city-owned sculptures, etc) rather than focus on whether the city has
>>financed other *museums.*

To which Alan Gunn responded:
>        And why stop with visual art? Suppose the city subsidizes a
symphony and
>Bob Jones has the only museum in town: couldn't one argue that subsidizing
>the symphony alone discriminates? Or what of baseball: if the city
>subsidizes little league but not the museum, doesn't it favor some ways of
>enriching people's lives over others?


My little church-related college has an art museum and a jazz band, if not a
symphony, besides a variety of athletic teams.  These are the only art
museum, jazz band, and college athletic teams in town.  It seems to me that
public money for these parts of the college would make this a public
institution--with the accompanying restrictions on its regulations.

It seems to me that I have read about big companies selling their art
collections in recent years.  Contributions to the art museum today could be
reconverted to the college's treasury tomorrow.

Robert J. O'Brien
obrien at wvwc.edu