{"id":28444,"date":"2014-03-07T03:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=28444"},"modified":"2016-09-26T12:13:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T15:13:40","slug":"court-lake-elsinore-war-memorial-advances-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/07\/court-lake-elsinore-war-memorial-advances-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Court: Lake Elsinore War Memorial Advances Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proposed Lake Elsinore war memorial<\/a> — which was to portray the iconic silhouette of a soldier kneeling at a cross-shaped headstone — was declared unconstitutional<\/a> by US District Judge Stephen Wilson:<\/p>\n

On Thursday (Feb. 27), U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of California\u2019s Central District ruled that a granite monument depicting a soldier kneeling in prayer before a cross lacked \u201ca secular purpose\u201d and has \u201cthe unconstitutional effect\u201d of endorsing religion over nonreligion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those that can’t seem to remember, the US Constitution says this about religion:<\/p>\n

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is such a stone really Congress making a law respecting establishment? Using the Lemon Test, the Judge<\/a> (PDF) said:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

1. Lake Elsinore\u2019s Use of the Cross Lacks a Predominantly Secular Purpose<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notably, he said “use of the cross” — not the memorial itself. Of course, the cross in the context of the memorial is instantly recognizable as a headstone — a nonsectarian symbology. It apparently also escaped the Judge that there was not just a cross but also a Star of David on the memorial.<\/p>\n

2. The Principal Effect of Lake Elsinore\u2019s Memorial is to Advance Religion<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Judge said that despite the town’s attempt to be historical — portraying an image representative of Normandy — the cross was still Christian and, therefore, unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

The US House passed — and the Senate ignored — a bill in 2012 that would have protected military memorials<\/a> with religious imagery. It was dismissed as unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Appears that might have been in error.<\/p>\n

The case was American Humanist Association et al v. City of Lake Elsinore et al<\/em>. The memorial was never built.<\/p>\n

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