Now and then headline news will report on one of the indigenous religions of the world and some peculiar practice that is unique to those who adhere to their worldview. A recent article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has focused on the proposed use of the  Big Island mountain of Mauna Kea.

If scientists are given permission to build the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea’s peak, it’ll be like poking a stick in the eye of the Native Hawaiian people.  This is sacred ground to many Hawaiian’s because it is part of their sacred myth and their understanding of how the islands were created.

This incident serves as a reminder that government seems to focus on the rights of science, and it has an unseemly disregard for the rites of believers.

How will this debate be settled? Should science build another telescope to see into the heavens or should they honor the holy places of Hawaii?

If the government continues down its current path of spiritual disregard, what’s next. It might become so bold as to remove something like the 10 Commandments from the public square in the middle of the night, but then again, I guess that already happened last week in Oklahoma City.