Tag Archives: cross

Another Military Memorial Targeted for its Cross

A Vietnam Veteran’s memorial erected in 1972 in Coos Bay, Oregon, is the focus of a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.  The FFRF is demanding the town remove the memorial because it has a cross.

The [FFRF] sent Coos Bay City Manager Rodger Craddock a letter saying the memorial itself isn’t the problem, it’s the cross resting on top.

They say it’s an “endorsement of Christianity over other religions and over nonreligion,” and must be removed “immediately”.

The presence of a cross on a public display does not “make [a] law regarding an establishment of religion.”  But these asinine attacks will continue, and in some cases Continue reading →

US Navy Ship Raises Christian Flag, Atheist Has Conniption

Two days ago, the USS Arlington posted a photo of two Seamen raising a church pennant above the American flag on its Facebook page:

Quartermasters Seaman Rashaun Plowden and 2nd Class Mary Carlton raise a church pennant above the American flag during worship services aboard USS Arlington (LPD 24) on Jan. 13, 2013.

An atheist (who is not in the military) took umbrage, unaware of his self-contradicting outrage.  First [ellipses original]:  Continue reading →

Atheists Broaden Attacks on Military Memorials

An atheist thinks this is an illegal “Christian shrine.”

Multiple military war memorials are now under attack by atheists who consider the presence of a Christian cross offensive.

Former soldier and current atheist Jason Torpy, the one-man association of military atheists (MAAF), has previously lodged complaints with the US Marines over the Camp Pendleton cross (which has yet to be resolved).  He is opposed to the cross in Arlington National Cemetery for the same reason.

This follows the national trend of several activist organizations that have been threatening cities and towns with lawsuits if they fail to remove memorials which contain Continue reading →

Mojave Cross Returns to Hilltop, Critics Stew

As previously noted, about 100 people attended a dedication of the new memorial cross in the Mojave National Preserve, erected after a decade-long battle led by the ACLU failed to have it permanently torn down.

“Judges and lawyers may have played their roles, but it was the veterans who earned this memorial, and it is for them it rises once more,” The Associated Press quoted attorney Hiram Sasser of the Texas-based Liberty Institute as saying.

Don Byrd, writing for the Baptist Joint Committee (whose purpose is ostensibly to “defend[] the first freedom of the First Amendment”) said allowing religious symbols to remain on public display was “disturbing.”  He also Continue reading →

Mojave Cross Dedication this Weekend, Stolen One Found

The Mojave Cross on Sunrise Rock in the remote Mojave National Preserve will finally be re-erected in a Veterans’ Day ceremony this weekend.

The cross had become the focus of a legal case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2000. The ACLU sued the federal government, asking that the cross be removed because the Christian symbol Continue reading →

Ranger Memorial Cross May Be Next Atheist Target

Jason Torpy, the former Army soldier and atheist vicariously offended when he saw the Camp Pendleton cross on the internet, may have another target.

As noted previously, crosses are used frequently in US military memorials around the world.  Torpy has already demanded that the Argonne Cross be removed from Arlington National Cemetery, and that the US Marine Corps remove locally raised crosses on Camp Pendleton — something he only knew about because he read a local (positive) news article.

Now, another memorial may face the same atheist anger.  Four US Army Ranger trainees lost their lives in a training incident nearly 20 years ago, and their fellow soldiers remember them:

On Feb. 16, 1995, four young men training to become a part of the elite military force died of hypothermia after a river rose rapidly and flooded a swamp they were training in during a mission.

A modest wooden cross marks the spot…

Photo credit: DEVON RAVINE \ Daily News

Rangers make an annual trek to the location:    Continue reading →

Buddhist Shrine to be Removed from National Park

Local Albuquerque papers noted that a Buddhist stupa was going to be removed from New Mexico’s Petroglyph National Monument because it was unconstitutional:

The National Park Service said Monday that park service will remove the ten-foot structure containing Buddhist relics from the park this week after getting an opinion from the Department of Interior’s solicitor general. The solicitor general ruled last month that keeping the Buddhist stupa violates the Constitution on established religion.

The story of the stupa is somewhat complex, as the NPS “bought” the stupa when it gained possession of the land from the original owners (after a legal battle) in the 1990s.  The Park Service didn’t raise the monument, nor does it Continue reading →

Military Chaplains Serve, Suffer, Innovate

A few recent articles highlight the service of US military chaplains around the globe, doing far more than the stereotypical Sunday morning chapel service:

As the Army begins to open certain career fields to women, chaplains are affected:  The 101st Airborne just received its first female chaplain in Chaplain (Capt) Delana Small.  In so doing, she became a part of the “legendary Band of Brothers.”  Her assignment was a result of the Department of Defense “Women in the Service Review.”  The DoD article is full of praise for the new chaplain.

In Africa, US chaplains met with their military counterparts from nine East African nations for the “third annual…African Military Chaplain Conference” in Djibouti.

While Africa isn’t in the news too much, save a few isolated mentions, it is noteworthy that US military chaplains are engaging at the rate they have.

Another article covers the touching, yet surprising, story of the service of military chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery:

Led by senior chaplains Continue reading →

Camp Pendleton Cross to go to Texas

A little-reported side story to the well-known controversy over the Camp Pendleton crosses was that a platoon was going to raise another cross on Pendleton, this time to honor Lance Corporal Benjamin Schmidt, who was killed in Afghanistan.  The family and his unit had planned to erect the cross — near other crosses already in place — in connection with an April memorial ceremony.

However, the complaints by atheist activist Jason Torpy, who found out about the crosses on the internet, caused Pendleton to put a moratorium on further memorials.  The Continue reading →

US Military Valor Site Now includes Crosses

The website created by the Defense Department to document recipients of military medals (an attempt at deterring “stolen valor”), now includes the nation’s second highest military honor:

The site launched with the names of Medal of Honor recipients for actions since 9/11, and now lists recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Cross and Navy Cross. The services are continuing to compile the lists of Silver Star recipients to add to the site, officials said.

Atheists within the culture (and even “military atheists”) are actively trying to tear down military memorial crosses around the United States — from San Diego to Arlington National Cemetery.

When do you think atheists will go after the service crosses given to America’s “heroes,” second only to the Medal of Honor?  Is that as much an offense as a memorial cross in a cemetery?

Cross is Welcome Sight in Military Chapel

An Army article entitled “For God and country, chaplains provide soldiers peace-of-mind, place to worship,” details the service of Chaplain (1Lt) Julio Vargas and his assistant Spc. Justinet Oquendo as they serve the soldiers training in exercises in California:  Continue reading →

Camp Pendleton Cross Prompts Wider Review

The demand by Jason Torpy, speaking for the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, that the US Marine Corps remove its “Christian privilege” (the crosses on Camp Pendleton‘s ridge on Camp Horno) has spurred a “wider review” of similar memorials around the world:

Capt. Greg Wolf at the Pentagon headquarters of the Marine Corps said Thursday that an “operational planning team” is conducting Continue reading →

Atheist Wants Cross Removed from Arlington, a Sacred Shrine

Atheist Jason Torpy tilted the irony meter recently when he touted his recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery. 

The event provided the opportunity to remember the service of all those hundreds of thousands at Arlington Cemetery, our nation’s most sacred shrine.

The atheist considers Arlington so “sacred,” in fact, he thinks the government should yank the crosses out of it – something even the ACLU doesn’t advocate.

Supreme Court Denies Review of Mount Soledad Cross Case

The US Supreme Court denied certiorari in Mount Soledad Memorial Association v. Trunk, which lets stand a 9th Circuit ruling that the cross was unconstitutional.  While some have claimed this was a victory for church/state separation, the ruling was actually more nuanced — and not focused on Constitutionality at all:  Continue reading →

Articles Defend, Attack Camp Pendleton Cross

Competing opinion pieces at the UT San Diego debate the appropriateness of the Camp Pendleton crosses, memorials that have stood on a remote hill on a US Marine base for years until an atheist found out they were there.

Ever-sensitive atheist Jason Torpy, the original complainant who found out about the crosses on the internet, reminds people the crosses “violate religious neutrality,” since the presence of religious symbols on government land is apparently totally forbidden:

Two 13-foot Christian crosses stand on restricted federal land as a result of unauthorized actions by private individuals…All of this speaks to a Marine-led Christianization of the military Continue reading →