Pro-Swastika Alliance claims religious racism by group demanding legal ban on swastikas
LAS VEGAS, July 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following a July 14 press conference held by Long Island, N.Y. rabbis and local politicians seeking a legal ban on public displays of the swastika – including banners featuring the symbol that were flown by the ProSwastika Alliance over public beaches last week – the Alliance countered today with a statement of its own.
"The non-Nazi-associated swastika is an ancient symbol revered for millennia by cultures worldwide as a symbol of peace and good will," said Thomas Kaenzig, Raelian Guide and president of the alliance. "It's found in thousands of temples and monuments across Asia, plus here in the United States in pre-Nazi-era historical sites, and even in century-old sites in Israel. Although many people don't know it, the swastika symbol had only positive meanings until the Nazis dragged it through the mud. My organization's mission is to restore the original, positive meanings of the swastika and eliminate any association with 20th century thugs."
Passing a legal ban on public display of the swastika would infringe upon the religious rights of millions in the United States, Kaenzig pointed out.
"It would also send the wrong message to cultures that have never associated the swastika with Nazis," he said. "This is a highly discriminatory and unconstitutional initiative. Asking legislators to ban public displays of the swastika is diametrically opposed to freedom of expression and to the freedom of religion this country is based upon."
Kaenzig pointed out that the Christian cross has been associated with numerous destructive deeds for centuries.
"If there's a symbol that equates with massive crime and genocide, it's the cross," he said. "It should be the first symbol to make Jews irate since they've been tortured and ostracized for centuries by Christians. Other horrors also have been committed under that symbol, including the Inquisition and genocides against the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Africa. Not to mention the Ku Klux Klan, which adopted the burning cross to mark its evil deeds. And what about the Star of David? Should Palestinians ban it because of the atrocities Israel is still carrying out against them? Neither the cross nor the Star of David is banned for the destructive things done in their name. What applies to those symbols must apply to the swastika as well!"
SOURCE ProSwastika Alliance
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