City Leaders Push Back After Atheist Group Demands Removal of Cross From City Hall
ICC Note: Earlier this month, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) issued a letter of complaint to the mayor of a Florida city regarding a wooden cross on city hall grounds. The cross serves as a memorial to fallen veterans, with the words, “We Will Never Forget Their Sacrifices,” written across the top. In response to the complaint, the mayor stated that he has “no intention” of taking down the cross and further remarked that the FFRF is “trying to create a fire where there is no fire.”
By Garrett Haley
03/20/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – Elected officials of a Florida city say they have no intention of removing a cross memorial from their city hall after a prominent professing atheist organization took issue with the memorial, describing it as exclusionary and unconstitutional.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter on March 10 to the mayor of Longwood, Florida, objecting to the display of a three-foot-tall wooden cross in the Longwood city hall. The white cross, emblazoned with the words, “We Will Never Forget Their Sacrifices,” is a memorial to veterans who lost their lives while serving in the armed forces.
“Our objection is to the message of endorsement of religion over nonreligion,” wrote FFRF staff attorney Rebecca Markert in the letter. “Additionally, this memorial sends a message that the government only cares about the deaths of Christian veterans, not other non-Christian and nonreligious veterans.”
The cross was created by a retired Army colonel and Vietnam War veteran who lives in Longwood, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel. Initially displayed in a city park as part of a traveling Vietnam War memorial, the cross was later donated to the city and placed in the Longwood city hall.
David Williamson of the Central Florida Freethought Community first alerted FFRF of the cross memorial, describing it as “a promotion of Christianity by the city.” Arguing that the cross “universally represents the Christian religion, and only the Christian religion,” Markert claimed in the letter that the memorial is “an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.”