The city of King, NC, paid Americans United for the Separation of Church and State $500,000 and agreed to remove the iconic image of a soldier kneeling at a cross-shaped headstone, ending a lawsuit filed in 2012.

The city council voted 3-2 to settle.

“I feel this city has been sabotaged and bullied by folks who don’t believe in what this community stands for,” the newspaper quoted City Councilman Wesley Carter as saying when he voted against the settlement. “I feel like we have been pressured by insurance companies and attorneys who have never been to King. They don’t know what we are about and what this community stands for.”

A small group of protestors “expressed their disappointment” a few days later.

The city council said they “preferred not to settle” but were attempting to avoid potentially millions of dollars in legal fees.

A bill in the US Congress to protect such iconography in memorials stalled several years ago, and similar attacks on memorials continue to occur around the country.

With reference to the Religion Clause.

ADVERTISEMENT