Political Article on “Justices Weigh Constitutionality of War Memorial Cross”

10/15/09

Political Article

Justices weigh constitutionality of war memorial cross — Bill Mears — CNN — Thursday, October 8, 2009

A cross symbolizing a World War 1 war memorial was erected in the Mojave Desert, a nationally owned parkland, and its being largely debated if the cross violates the constitution. Knowing that the cross may be a legal problem and be in violation of the constitution separation of church and state, the congress tried to sell the land surrounding the war memorial to veteran groups. The federal appeals panel stopped the land swap and the congress’s effort to eliminate any Establishment Clause violation. Justice Samuel Alito, a man who had decided that congress was not acting in good faith of the constitution, had a few words to say about the so called atrocity, “You are violating this injunction” that ordered the removal of the cross. Then, being a typical politician, Justice Anthony Kennedy, questioned both sides of the argument without raveling anything about his opinion on the topic. The first 10 words of the Bill of Rights states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. The cross in question was erected by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1934 to honor the deaths during the war. This memorial that Easter is celebrated on every year, is known as Sunrise rock. The Opposes to the cross, argue that a religious symbol on publicly owned land represents state endorsement of a particular faith over others. The Rebuttal of the VFW (those representing the cross and the veterans) is that the cross is not there for religious purposes, solely to honor the veterans of WW1 be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or any other religion. “The real goal of the veterans group is to stop this really disgraceful conduct of having war memorials that have been up for 75 years be coming under attack because of political correctness or whatever mood of the day,” said Kelly Shackleford, director of the Liberty Legal Institute, representing the VFW. “This was not put up by the government. It was put up my veterans. This is the symbol they chose.” So the question still stands at what should be done about the 75 year old cross in the Mojave Desert.

This article pertains to the United States on the grounds of many reasons. First and foremost, is that it is a conflict with the United States Constitution and whether it is constitutional for the government to have a cross on their land, if it must be removed, or if the land may be sold to the veterans. The congress of the United States and the War veterans are trying to keep the monument there for the purpose of honoring all the veterans of the war. Other religious viewer have the perspective that the government is contradicting the Constitution of the United States.