Read the Constitution!
“Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
In case you hadn’t heard, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday…or maybe it was this morning (This is recent enough that it’s doesn’t show up in Google unless you type in “Supreme Court Ruling World War I” or something akin to that) ruled that a park in the Mojave desert, which had been given to the VFW by Congress, doesn’t have to tear down a 70 year old cross that was put on the land to memorialize the fallen veterans of World War I.
It was actually a very close vote – 5 to 4 in favor of letting the cross stand. But I’m glad the vote went the way it did for a couple of reasons.
1. The land on which the memorial stands was given over to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars, which is a non-profit organization – not a branch of the government) and was no longer “public” land. Granted, this was done by Congress when lower courts had ruled in favor of “Civil Rights” groups and had ordered the park services to tear down the cross. Congress was like “We have a better solution, why don’t we make the land ‘non-public’, that way it no longer potentially violates the first amendment of the Constitution.” And then they did, and the “Civil Rights” groups were all like “Hey! That’s….that’s…son of a bitch! You can’t just pull the rug out from under us like that, you stupid Congress!”, and the Supreme Court was like “Yes, yes they can…bitches.”
2. The cross had been there for 70 years, and was put there as a memorial to the dead, not as an endorsement for Christianity. If you read the first amendment it really does come down to intent. If the cross was put up to try and spread the Christian religion, then the government would indeed need to get rid of it. However, if the cross was put up as a memorial to help people remember the sacrifices of U.S. troops in WWI then the government would be justified in keeping it up. This is what the majority opinion basically stated:
“Although the cross is “a Christian symbol,” said Kennedy, it was not placed on sunrise rock in the Mojave Desert to send “a Christian message.” Nor was it placed there to put a government “imprimatur on a particular creed.” Rather, he said, “those who erected the cross intended simply to honor our nation’s fallen soldiers.””
I’m pretty happy about this ruling. I like it when the government sticks to the letter of the law. I’m in favor of a strict interpretation of the constitution.
But don’t just take my word for it: Read Here
So if Congress hadn’t given the park to a private group and made the land non-public, you would have been fine with the law basically saying the cross had to be torn down?
No, because my second point still holds. If both points were invalidated: a.k.a. it was on Federal Land AND it was put there with the intent to spread the Christian religion, then yes, I would be okay with it being torn down. The two points I made in the post don’t depend on each other though, they’re just both valid in this situation.