ICC Note: Following a complaint from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Minnesota veterans club recently removed a cross from one of their displays in a public park. The memorial depicted a soldier paying respects to a grave marker shaped as a cross in honor of locals who died during their military service. However, the FFRF argued that this display was a violation of the US Constitution due to the fact that it was on city property and served as a “government endorsement” of only one religion.
By Heather Clark
01/19/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – Veterans in a Minnesota city have removed a cross from a memorial erected in a public park after a prominent professing atheist group deemed the inclusion of the symbol as being an unlawful government endorsement of religion.
According to reports, the Belle Plaine Veterans Club had recently placed the display in Veterans Park next to an inscribed stone honoring local residents who had lost their lives in various wars, from the Indian War of 1862 to the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The silhouette showed a soldier kneeling before a grave marker in the shape of a cross, such as are seen in some military cemeteries.
But the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) contended that the inclusion of the cross in the display promoted Christianity and failed to represent other religions or those who reject religion. It asked that the symbol be removed since its placement on city property could be construed as government endorsement.
“FFRF has no objection to veterans’ memorials. Our objection is to the message of endorsement of religion over non-religion,” the group wrote in a letter to City Attorney Bob Vose in October. “Additionally, this memorial sends a message that the government only cares about the deaths of Christian soldiers, not other non-Christian and non-religious soldiers.”
It contended that even though the purpose of the display was not meant to be religious, the cross grave marker made it so.
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