A sad day for Unitarians: Starr King to be Replaced by Reagan

By Zachary Drake - September 05, 2006

I read a sad thing in the NYT today. Each state gets to place two statues in our nation's Capitol building. One of California's statues has been of Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King (Wikipedia entry), whose activism during the 1860s saved California to the Union, according to Abraham Lincoln. But no more. This leading light of Unitarianism will be replaced by...Ronald Reagan. Sigh. From the NYT:

Politicians, however, are nothing if not fickle in their affections. So it was that last week the California Legislature, at the behest of a Republican lawmaker, decided that a statue of King should be replaced in the National Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol by one of a more modern Republican with a similar gift for public speaking: Ronald Reagan.
The measure, which passed nearly unanimously just before the end of the legislative session on Thursday night, was hailed by State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, its Republican author, as a fitting nod to the Great Communicator.

I can understand this. Reagan has been beatified by conservatives. Given the current administraion, I can sort of understand why. Given what Bush & Co. have done, I could be nostalgic for just about anyone. So put his statue up in the Capitol if you must. But you're not fooling me. Reagan was in many ways an awful president (defecits, Iran-Contra, unemployment, etc.) And Reagan already has an airport, and aircraft carrier, a presidential library, and a whole bunch of other stuff named after him. Starr King only has a seminary and a one-block street in San Francisco (as well as numerous rooms in Unitarian churches throughout the land). But how can a Unitarian Minister whom few people have ever heard of compete with someone on whom so many Americans seem to project their political fantasies (especially in retrospect)?

Fortunately, the Starr-King statue is merely suffering a demotion: it will probably end up on display in the State Capitol in Sacramento. I thought it fitting to conclude with an image of the actual tomb of Thomas Starr King, outside the First Unitarian Universalist Society Church in San Francisco: