The South American country of Uruguay has a long tradition of secularism, to the point that a popular president in the early 1900s insisted on writing the word "God" with a lowercase "g'' whenever he wrote about his policies in local newspapers.
So when the Catholic Church of Uruguay recently proposed erecting a statue of the Virgin Mary in a park next to a popular promenade, a debate erupted over whether religious symbols in public places violate the separation between church and state.
Local authorities will decide on the petition, but that hasn't stopped lawmakers nationwide from weighing in . . .
