Your Opinion: Is Ceres an object of worship?

Nelson Otto

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

Bert Dirschell asked if there were any other states with pagan gods on their capitol. Vermont is the only other one with the goddess Ceres but many states have allegorical statues on top. There is a website that lists them all. There are Native Americans, several versions of women representing liberty, a man called the Sower, a few eagles and some have nothing at all.

The thing we have to ask ourselves; "Is the statue an object of worship?" I would have to say, "No." I don't think most people even knew she was up there until they took her down to clean her. As one of my friends said, "I don't know what all the fuss is about; she is nothing more than a glorified lightning rod."

If we take Ceres down then we need to take all the statues and art work down from the Capitol. Each statue is an allegorical representation of important values and traits that are part of the State of Missouri. Ceres is agriculture, then there are the statues of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, the fountain of the Centaurs which represents the wilds of Missouri, the two fountains one represents the arts the other sciences. They are representation of state values and fine works of art, plus we don't want to follow in the example of those that want to destroy historical statues cause they find them offensive. One must remember that when one looks at Ceres all one has to do to see God is to look beyond her into the heavens above, and there can be no higher place anywhere than that.