Edward Bode
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Jim Dyke's cartoon (News Tribune, Jan 9) uses the background of opposition to the restored Ceres (Roman goddess of agriculture, atop the Capitol dome, home of the state) because of some opposition to the goddess on the basis of the separation of state and religion.
However, in view of consistency, the St. Mary's Hospital's outdoor statue of St. Mary (designed by a noted Jefferson City artist) will have to be removed if the hospital is sold to MU Health (state); as well as the cross on the roof and the crucifixes within the hospital.
In the Ceres instance, I prefer to think that consistency, a basic tenet of legality, needs to be considered in the confrontation of goddess Ceres (done by a New York artist) and Mary, a human person.
The NY artist was Sherry Fry. He wrote: "Ceres, who of all the classic divinities is best qualified to be the patron goddess. She is a truly gracious and beneficent being. The kindly eyes look down on her votaries as they move to and fro on the earth below. ... Her right hand extends forward and downward in perpetual blessing." (The Missouri State Capitol, Complete Report of the Capitol Decoration Commission, Jefferson City, 1989)
Wow! What accolades for a ancient pagan goddess.
If human Mary must go, would not goddess Ceres have to go in order to be consistent? Consistency, where art thou?
Incidentally, the Ten Commandments also appear in the carvings on the front of the Capitol.
Consistency, where and how art thou to be found? If the goddess stays, should not human Mary also stay?