Tag Archives: mojave cross

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 Read more

US Troops Visit Hill of Crosses that would be Attacked in America

paracrossesUS Army paratroopers recently visited The Hill of Crosses during a six-month deployment to Lithuania:

Members of Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade…

…were visiting the Hill of Crosses; a monument to the strength, pride and resolve of the Lithuanian people and everyone who has been repressed by tyranny.

Interestingly, the Hill of Crosses began as a war memorial, and it has Read more

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 Read more

Mojave Cross Case Settled, Cross will Stand

In April 2010, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that claimed a transfer of National Park Service land in the Mojave National Preserve — upon which stood a cross — was an end-run around the US Constitution.

In January 2011, the VFW sued the government for failing to abide by that decision and allowing the cross to stand.  In fact, while the case was ongoing the cross was stolen; when a replacement appeared, the government took it down.

Now it appears the case is done:

A federal judge has approved Read more

Justice Department Defends Mount Soledad Memorial

President Obama’s Justice Department is reportedly appealing the case of the Mount Soledad Memorial to the US Supreme Court.  (A similar petition was filed by the Liberty Institute.) The 9th Circuit court of appeals previously ruled the 43-foot cross unconstitutional.

The government should not be required “to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 58 years as a highly venerated memorial to the nation’s fallen service members,” Solicitor General Read more

Mount Soledad Memorial Ruling Appealed to Supreme Court

The Liberty Institute has petitioned the US Supreme Court to reverse the ruling of the 9th Circuit, which held the 43-foot cross on Mount Soledad near San Diego was unconstitutional.  The 9th Circuit denied an en banc review.

Last year’s ruling by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals capped two decades of legal challenges over the cross that was used for Easter celebrations in the early 1900s and later became a memorial to Korean War Read more

Atheists Fight Marines over Camp Pendleton Cross

Update: Another California paper accuses the LA Times of being “too close” to Camp Pendleton in their failure to get an “obligatory” comment from the ACLU when they first reported on the Camp Horno cross.

An Associated Press article updates the protest by atheist Jason Torpy over the memorials located on Camp Horno, on the Camp Pendleton Marine post in California.  It repeats much of the recent local article, noting a decision isn’t coming until next year, though its title is telling:

Atheists, Marines debate Camp Pendleton crosses

Even if inadvertently, the AP accurately notes it is a ‘battle’ between Torpy and the US Marines, not any other group.

The article also says Torpy is happy for the rest of the memorial to remain, just not the cross.  Ironically, this seems to counter not only the concept of Read more

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