Shannon L. Wade
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
The recent excitement around the renovation of the statue of Ceres, the Roman Goddess of Agriculture, has left me with an unsettled feeling: Roman gods and goddesses do not reflect our values as Missourians.
Over the years, our beautiful Capitol grounds have served as an idyllic setting for Missouri’s citizens, but until the Missouri Fraternal Order of Eagles erected a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds in 1958, our beautiful sanctuary on the banks of the river makes it look like Missouri is populated with a citizenry that worships all sorts of Greek and Roman pagan idols. For years I have been struck by the disrespect that Missouri has shown the Christian faith by placing a monument that clearly states “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me” in a manner that has a number of other gods directly in front of it, and is overlooked by a pagan goddess from Roman Antiquity.
Missouri is clearly a Christian state, and with all of these pagan gods and demi-gods frolicking around in the Fountain of the Centaurs, it occurred to me that the renovation of the Capitol Dome affords Missouri an opportunity to show respect to its Christian roots — rather then restore Ceres, we should instead place a statue of Jesus Christ on top of the dome, and give the Christian faith equal footing to the pagan faith demonstrated by the State of Missouri with all of these Roman and Greek gods and demi-gods.
I call upon the leaders of the State of Missouri to show the same respect to the Christian faith as they have to Ceres, Rush Limbaugh, and various Itchthyocentaurs — Lets put a statue of Jesus Christ on top of the dome.