Groups weigh in on fate of 14 crosses

Groups weigh in on fate of 14 crosses
Briefs have been filed in support of the position taken by American Atheists Inc.


The battle over the fate of 14 crosses, memorializing fallen Utah Highway Patrol troopers, got a little more crowded earlier this month when two groups of national organizations stepped into the mix.

Briefs filed Aug. 5 and 6 in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver support American Atheists Inc., a Texas-based group that first filed suit on the matter in 2005. The atheist organization argued that the 12-foot-high crosses, along state highways, are religious symbols that should be removed because their being on public land is unconstitutional - a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits government establishment of religion.

U.S. District Judge David Sam rejected that argument last year, saying the context of the crosses was secular in nature. He viewed them as symbols of sacrifice and reminders to drive safely. Sam also pointed out that because most of the deceased troopers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith that does not use the cross as a symbol, the memorials couldn't be construed as promoting religion and were merely markers of death.

American Atheists appealed the ruling in March and now has the backing of those who signed off on this month's briefs. The first supporting document was submitted by the American Humanist Association, the Society for Humanistic Judaism and the Unitarian Universalist Association. The second came from the Americans United
for Separation of Church and State, the Anti-Defamation League, the Hindu American Foundation, the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, the Union for Reform Judaism and the recently retired Eugene Fisher, who for three decades was in charge of Catholic-Jewish relations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
...
Among arguments presented in the briefs is that calling the cross a secular symbol is offensive to Christians who have accepted the cross as their pre-eminent symbol for about 2,000 years.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10218536

if the troopers were Christians the crosses should stay. it is to honor them & their God.

Twelve feet high? That strikes me as potentially distracting and gets away from the message of safe driving.

Have any of the families of the fallen objected to the use of the crosses?

I've seen dozens of little memorials set up along highways, obviously marking the spots of traffic deaths. Some with crosses, some not. They do make me think.