FoxNews.com reports that the owner of the Empire State Building in New York will not accommodate a request for it to be specially lit to honor Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday. The Catholic League has even asked twice. The management company responded by saying it “has a specific policy against any other lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations.”

According to FoxNews, the Empire State Building has honored Pope John Paul II, Cardinal John O’Connor, and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m not saying anyone should be able to strong-arm a private landowner and business to do something it doesn’t wish to do, but this excuse is flimsy. There is precedent where other religious figures have been honored. Also worthy of note, the building was specially lit to honor the Chinese Communist Revolution. That revolution was bloody (like most wars), but has ominous effects of political oppression, enabling slave labor, and wholesale slaughter of dissident groups.

My criticism is that there doesn’t appear to be a patriotic or moral principle involved in considering requests to honor significant events or individuals.

This is unfortunate. Mother Teresa was a positive influence in the world.