A Case For Advancing Religion
Do you think it is illegal in America to display a cross in a cemetery? You might be surprised to find out that the Supreme Court has gone rounds over this issue, and another battle is slated for this summer.
The case of interest is Salazer v. Buono. Since 1934, a cross has been displayed on top of Sunrise Rock at the Mojave National Preserve as a monument to World War I soldiers. Former preserve employee Frank Buono, a vampiric Roman Catholic who apparently hates crosses, is suing to have it removed. The ACLU is leading his charge.
The problem, these plaintiffs claim, is that this 8 foot cross is intended to “advance religion.”
Yes, I’m sure millions will turn to the violence of Christianity because of a funeral marker no one would ever know about if not for this case.
Over the past few years, Congress has moved to protect the memorial by eventually making Sunrise Rock private property. Now Buono has extended the suit to outlaw congressional moves to protect religious symbols. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is once again on the anti-religion side of the issue.
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Crosses are found in cemeteries all over the world. When you travel abroad, expect to see other religious icons commemorating the dead. So why in the U.S. is a small minority calling these icons unconstitutional?
Everything changed after the 1940s. Until that time, separation of church and state was understood as it always had been to mean the government can not force you to practice a particular religion. You don’t have to be a scholar to understand the 1st Amendment’s opening statement:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Over the past few decades, this statement has been reinterpreted from the narrow reality of what Congress is not permitted to do. Now the common belief is that any religious presentation in the public sector is a governmental “endorsement of religion” from which non-believers will suffer psychological trauma.
You know, like when you non-Jewish folks saw a Star of David at school and ended up in the asylum from a nervous breakdown.
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Now the Court is asked to review these issues again. They may find a copout by saying that Buono has no standing to challenge the cross since he lives in Oregon and suffers no harm because of the cross. I’m still not sure how a Roman Catholic suffers such pain over a cross in the first place. Regardless, this argument is similar to how the Court sidestepped the Pledge of Allegiance challenge by Michael Newdow a couple years back.
Many veterans groups have joined the fight. Here’s a recent statement about possible broader implications of the Buono suit.
“It is disheartening and distressing to think that Arlington Cemetery must be gutted because there are those who are offended by the religious imagery,” the groups wrote. “And under the Ninth Circuit’s approach, no memorial may be preserved by conveying it to a veterans organization, probably the very organization that paid for the memorial in the first place.”
Educlaytion will continue to address issues revolving around these types of cases and America’s first right, that of religious freedom. In the meantime, the Court will take on this latest test.
Maybe they should just forcibly remove every single symbol of religion in America. Wouldn’t that be government sponsored atheism?
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People who oppose this
Don’t understand this
You should check out a good piece by Richard Garnett from Monday’s USA Today. Garnett, a law professor at Notre Dame, accurately describes the true meaning of church-state separation and alludes to the hottest upcoming Supreme Court case on the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
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Life. Culture. Education.
Life as Pop Culture Professor Clay Morgan
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about finding meaning amidst the absurd. It’s about humor and truth.
I’m a writer / speaker who teaches history and political courses at a couple of local colleges. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
On topics ranging from pop culture to the meaning of life, my brain’s always poppin’. Take the red pill and unplug.
the thing is you should be worshiping the state.. or the great leader, not something that scares them, something they cant tax or regulate, your faith.
It is government sponsored atheism, and as zealous an act of forced legislation as any pagan vs. christian or christian vs. pagan or atheist vs. anyone act there has ever been. The sorry truth is that the cross is a religious symbol usurped from paganism anyway…so why fight for it like it means anything to the guy that supposedly died on it. Levi hit the nail on the head here. Stick to what can’t be so easily controlled and taken away.
The cross on a national preserve, not a cemetery.