Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Lloyd Clarke has decided to drop his campaign to get a Lutheran cross removed from the city shield in Frankenmuth, Michigan. I just had a long conversation with him on the phone and he is both relieved and disappointed. He got absolutely no support from anyone in the community, which really weighed on him. The only support he got was from folks like me from elsewhere in the state, and our support may well have made things worse for him (in the sense that small towns like this tend to frown on "outsiders" coming in to tell them what to do).
He told me that he'd gotten a lot of heat from his friends and family, who were embarrassed to be associated with his actions. In particular he was concerned that his sister, who works for the county, might have her job put in jeopardy. But he really struggled with whether to go forward or not. In the end, he told me:
It's not something I want to pursue for the rest of my life with the trial and the appeals and the deposition, especially in light of the animosity. I just want to go back to being an anonymous citizen.
I was really pleased to get to know Lloyd over the last couple weeks. To quote a phrase my father always loved, he is a gentleman and a scholar. I was enormously impressed with how he handled himself during this situation, invariably coming across as a reasonable and sensitive man rather than a bomb thrower. He is exactly the sort of people we need involved in battles like this.
But knowing how difficult it is for someone to walk out on that limb by themselves, especially in a community like Frankenmuth, I don't blame him for deciding it just wasn't worth it. And in the end, is that cross really such a big deal? While I'd prefer that it wasn't there, it doesn't coerce anyone or diminish anyone's freedom of conscience.
I was looking forward to seeing how this case played out and I'm a bit disappointed that it's over, but that was frankly for pretty selfish reasons - it was a fun story to pursue. But I can't be disappointed in Lloyd Clarke, who represented himself with grace and dignity at all times. If nothing else, I've made a new friend in the process.
Comments
ELIZABETH: ..(With a tender smile for the old man) They say he give them but two words. "More weight",he says. And died.
PROCTOR: (numbed-a thread to weave into his agony) "More weight"
ELIZABETH: Aye. It were a fearsome man, Giles Corey.
The Crucible Act IV - Arthur Miller.
No less fearsome a man, and at least no one died. -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | May 15, 2008 9:50 AM
I too admire Mr. Clarke's initiative and respect his decision, especially given the fact no other locals were willing to step up.
We all need to do a better job of defining this battle as one where we are defending the individual right to equal protection from unconstitutional government encroachment that deprives us of our individual rights. Too often we frame the issue in a manner advantageous to our opponents, i.e., that the law is on our side.
This misframing on our part allows our opponents to frame the issue that it is their religious rights that are being threatened when we attempt to stop the majority from leveraging the power of government to promote their religious objectives.
Posted by: Michael Heath | May 15, 2008 9:56 AM
Being from a small town myself, I understand the pressures of being out on a limb by yourself. When I went to high school if we were having a discussion in my English class, as we often did, regarding religion, it was very difficult to "come out" as the only atheist. Luckily I wasn't the only non-Christian, but the conservative Hindu students tended to side with the Christians. I was pretty much on my own. The comments made about me simply because I was an atheist and did not feel that my life needed to be run by Christian morality/law or whatever were...less than flattering.
That said, I totally understand where he is coming from in not being sure if the case was worth it. I know I questioned whether speaking up in my class was worth it. Obviously that's a smaller scale than this, but similar pressures I think.
Posted by: Rob W | May 15, 2008 10:26 AM
While I'd prefer that it wasn't there, it doesn't coerce anyone or diminish anyone's freedom of conscience.
Well, Mr. Clarke seems to have been coerced, in my view. However, I don't blame him a bit for picking his battles wisely and hope his "Christian" neighbors will see fit to leave him alone after this.
Posted by: justawriter | May 15, 2008 12:29 PM
To be fair, let me make clear once again that Lloyd never received any communication that was at all threatening or intimidating. The feedback was uniformly negative, no one agreed with him. But he was not treated disrespectfully for the most part and no one threatened him. That alone is unusual in such a situation.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | May 15, 2008 12:34 PM
If a Reverend had protested something atheistic on a town
shield, he'd have been given more coverage, support and applaud the more ridiculous he got. Unfortunate, isn't it?
Luckily enough, I sat in "Atheist's Corner" in my AP English class senior year. Our classmates (for the most part) were pretty "Yeah, so?" about the whole thing.
However, the class that graduated two years before had a lovely incident in their AP US History class (usually a junior course). One day, out of the blue, one particularly Christian girl stood up and said to the only "out" Jew in our school (that I knew of), "Your religion is just wrong."
Posted by: Mac | May 15, 2008 12:40 PM
"To be fair, let me make clear once again that Lloyd never received any communication that was at all threatening or intimidating. The feedback was uniformly negative, no one agreed with him. But he was not treated disrespectfully for the most part and no one threatened him. That alone is unusual in such a situation."
...well, they *are* Lutherans.
Posted by: Nick (Matzke) | May 15, 2008 1:00 PM
"...well, they *are* Lutherans."
The Lutherans and Methodists I've known have been fairly level-headed, decent people. I wonder if something like this (certainly not an "attack" but could easily be spun that way) serves to push moderate Christians further into the uneasy alliance with the fundies.
I'm not arguing that the man should have acted in any way differently. Just a thought.
Posted by: bullet | May 15, 2008 4:22 PM
"...no one agreed with him."
No one in the entire town of Frankenmuth agreed that a cross on the town seal was inappropriate? Or did you just mean that no one else had the guts to come forward publicly?
Posted by: Lance | May 15, 2008 5:20 PM
So "Lloyd never received any communication that was at all threatening or intimidating." Then what was that bit about his sister worrying that she would lose her job with the county? Did she imagine that or did someone say something to her?
I agree with the man that this fight wasn't worth all the grief he was getting from his family, even though he is right and the whole town is wrong.
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 15, 2008 10:11 PM
"...Our support may well have made things worse for him (in the sense that small towns like this tend to frown on 'outsiders' coming in to tell them what to do)."
To be fair, Frankenmuth is hardly what I would consider a small town. With their entire existence currently hinging around tourism, I'd have to doubt that they're particularly resistant to outsiders, either. In fact, I'd like to present the possibility that their resistant stance is directly connected how they hope "outsiders" will perceive them, since one of their primary attractions is a year-round Christmas store which bills itself as "The World's Largest."
Posted by: Justin | May 16, 2008 11:27 PM
The name Frankenmuth means "Courage of the Franconians." That's the area in Germany from where the original settlers came. What you saw was that courage from the Mayor, City Council, and the rest of the community. And it isn't just the Lutherans that displayed that courage, it was Methodists, Catholics and the other Christians that live in the community. They were not going to be threatened and intimidated by those misguided and misinformed presentations that started the meeting.
Posted by: mwoodyf | May 19, 2008 10:53 PM
mwoodyf-
Perhaps you could offer a specific thing that was misguided or misinformed in those presentations. I have the whole thing in audio so I can provide the transcript.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | May 20, 2008 12:56 AM
Why should an "outsider" be welcomed in knowing they are trying to stir things up. I don't usually welcome pot-stirers into my home. This is my home. I love and have a great respect for Frankenmuth. I respect it's school system, it's one of the best. My children went to St. Lorenz with most of the children in town. The background shows in the kids High School years. My town is clean, safe, friendly and simply a joy to visit. It may be the same without the Lutheran Rose on our City Shield, but it's "Our Shield" and we wear it proudly, I hope you wear yours proudly. I won't push mine down your throat, please do the same for us.
Posted by: Frank of Frankenmuth | May 22, 2008 3:36 PM
Lloyd Clarke is not an "outsider". Additionally, pot-stirring must be done sometimes to right a wrong. Was the womens' suffrage movement pot-stirring? Who decides what pot-stirring is?
Posted by: Dennis N | May 22, 2008 4:07 PM
Are 50% of the citizens in Frankenmuth suffering due to the Lutheran Rose? I see no "suffrage" due to our shield, do you really? I fail to see our city shield as a "wrong", just a representation of our history, nothing more.
Posted by: frank | June 11, 2008 10:41 AM