Will Vandalized War Memorial Survive Atheist Purge?
The Walk of Heroes Veterans War Memorial in Rockdale County, Georgia, was vandalized in December. A plaque, two statues, and the globe they held, all made from bronze, were ripped from the site. Three people have been arrested.
At this point, there’s no immediate indication the vandalism was connected to the nationwide purge of “racially offensive” monuments. One source estimated the cost of repairs at more than $200,000.
Another question, however, is whether the monument, repaired or not, will survive the newfound fury of atheists.
Atheist Jason Torpy and others like him have been on a crusade over the past few years to have war memorials with religious imagery or iconography ripped out of the ground — including, believe it or not, the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery. (Regrettably, their effort may have been unintentionally aided by the Stars and Stripes creating a database of memorials nationwide.) Small towns have been targeted in particular, as they rarely have the funds for a legal fight to defend a memorial. The Bladensburg Peace Cross has been the most recent target.
Prior targets have included the kneeling Soldier silhouette around the country, as well as the Mojave Cross and the Mount Soledad Memorial, both of which were permitted to stand only after the ground on which they stood was transferred to private organizations. Not all have been crosses.
If you look at the pictures of the Walk of Heroes, you’ll note the “religious imagery” in the background — a (mostly) gender-neutralized quote from Jesus Christ (John 15:13 (KJV)):
Greater love hath no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Now that militant atheists are aware of the site, wonder how long it will be before the faux outrage begins.
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