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While a town remembers World War II veterans, atheists sue to stop it
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ ^ | William Perry Pendley | July 01, 2018 12:00 AM

Posted on 07/01/2018 4:49:50 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK

Last month, Albuquerque, N.M., resident Ralph Rodriguez Jr. died. One of the last “Battling Bastards of Bataan” survivors of a death march through the Philippines jungle, methodical malnutrition, and sadistic torture by the Japanese in World War II, he was 100 years old. In northern New Mexico’s high desert, bounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the town of Taos, is a memorial to him and men with whom he served, including those whose remains were never recovered. Its cross drew the ire of a deep-pocketed anti-religion group, but help is on the way if the Supreme Court grants a petition filed last week.

On Dec. 8, 1941, hours after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, which were defended by the 515th Coastal Artillery Regiment, 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment, 192nd Tank Battalion, 194th Tank Battalion, and regular, national, and commonwealth groups of the Philippine Army. The 515th and 200th were New Mexicans sent to the Philippines because most spoke fluent Spanish. They fought bravely, but Japanese forces quickly overwhelmed them. On April 9, 1942, they surrendered.

Immediately, the Japanese sent survivors on the “Bataan Death March” to prison camps 65 miles away. Prisoners received little food or water and were tortured frequently. Those who could not keep up, or angered their captors, were summarily executed. The New Mexicans were singled out because the Japanese could not distinguish those of Mexican descent from the Filipinos, so they beat them brutally in frustration. A Filipino division of 350 was rounded up and every man beheaded. Of the estimated 80,000 who began the march, only 54,000 reached its end.

In the prison camps, the horrors continued. Prisoners died of malnutrition (their diet was whistle weed soup and watery, maggot-infested rice), disease (dengue fever, beriberi, dysentery, malaria, typhus, and typhoid fever ravaged the men), or “subhuman treatment,” in the words of Sgt. Rodriguez. The rest were used as slave labor until the war ended in 1945. Of the 1,816 New Mexicans who reached the Philippines, only 987 returned home.

New Mexican War Mothers, using private donations — the town of Taos did no fundraising, planning, designing, or building — erected a memorial in Taos’ plaza to honor their loved ones. The memorial contains a brass plaque with the names of New Mexicans who died on the Bataan Death March and other Taos citizens who were killed in World War II, a sculpture of soldiers sustaining each other during the march, and the flags of the United States and New Mexico. A central feature is a Latin cross, below which the plaque with the soldiers’ names is affixed.

Last year, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation wrote the town of Taos demanding that it move the memorial to a “more appropriate private location” or defend a federal lawsuit because the memorial’s cross purportedly violates the Establishment Clause. Across the country, another memorial (honoring 49 Prince George’s County, Md., soldiers who died in World War I) is under attack by yet another radical group. A Maryland federal district court rejected the challenge, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, ruling 2-1, reversed that ruling. Defenders of the memorial sought en banc review, which was denied over a passionate dissent. Last week, the defenders petitioned the Supreme Court for review.

The town of Taos, represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation, will urge that the Supreme Court grant the Maryland petition, reverse the 4th Circuit decision, and hold that crosses at war memorials do not violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on the Establishment Clause is badly muddled and would be unrecognizable to the Founders. It must be rectified. Perhaps a brief from a small mountain town in the West will help the justices understand what is at stake and honor Rodriquez and the men of the 515th and 200th with whom he served bravely in a faraway land in defense of their country.


TOPICS: History; Reference; Religion; Society
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1 posted on 07/01/2018 4:49:50 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

“Last year, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation wrote the town of Taos demanding that it move the memorial to a “more appropriate private location” or defend a federal lawsuit because the memorial’s cross purportedly violates the Establishment Clause.”

This is a racket. These groups and foundations get court ordered “legal fees” paid for every lawsuit they settle.


2 posted on 07/01/2018 4:56:45 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

There are your garden-variety atheists and there are your misanthropic atheists. Some of the latter may indeed believe that Earth needs to rid itself of our species, but the former includes those who live by certain American standards.


3 posted on 07/01/2018 4:59:34 PM PDT by equaviator (`)
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To: equaviator

I would call those agnostics vs. atheists. The atheists are worse than snake-handling fundamentalists.


4 posted on 07/01/2018 5:08:35 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

After World War I, Calvin Coolidge, as part of his acceptance speech for the Republican vice-presidential nomination on July 27th 1920, cautioned the country against abandoning its social contract with its warriors, ‘The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten.’ This oft-repeated quote may well have a resonance for the Byzantine emperor Maurice, an emperor who came to prominence through his military success in the late antique period, but in a different context.


5 posted on 07/01/2018 5:13:33 PM PDT by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
On Dec. 8, 1941, hours after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded the PhilippinesOn a tiny island 120 miles off the coast of Luzon. The main invasion was on December 22.
6 posted on 07/01/2018 5:19:01 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: FreedomPoster

What’s wrong with snake-handling fundamentalists?


7 posted on 07/01/2018 5:22:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

ditto. I find the snake handlers fascinating.


8 posted on 07/01/2018 5:24:23 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege; BenLurkin; FreedomPoster

Snake-handlers don’t go around suing others to force them to handle snakes ... or do/not do anything else, either.


9 posted on 07/01/2018 5:35:00 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Fill in my standard rant.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Perhaps it is time for the citizens of TAOS to pull a “Kit Carson” and guard the monument as Kit did the American Flag in the 1860s.


10 posted on 07/01/2018 5:35:34 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: BenLurkin; CondoleezzaProtege; Tax-chick

Nothing that Darwin doesn’t fix from time to time.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/snake-handling-pentecostal-pastor-dies-snake-bite/story?id=22551754

Not that I’m in favor of a government solution, mind you. Other than keeping underage kids safe from such silliness.


11 posted on 07/01/2018 5:37:01 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: FreedomPoster

4-1/2 years ago, so obviously it turns out okay a lot of the time.


12 posted on 07/01/2018 5:39:31 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Fill in my standard rant.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Am I wrong, doesn’t the Constitution guarantee freedom of religion, not freedom from religion? While I am not religious I find these anti religion people offensive. Plus in this day and age isn’t it illegal to offend people?


13 posted on 07/01/2018 6:53:51 PM PDT by Retvet (Retvet)
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To: FreedomPoster

Snake-handling, eh? Sounds positively shocking...I gotta see that.


14 posted on 07/01/2018 7:32:17 PM PDT by equaviator (`)
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To: Retvet

They are nasty people, full of hate and they want everyone else to be as unhappy as they are.

Think about the gigantic leap of logic required to turn this monument into state establishment of religion. These people have a very perverted and sick way of seeing the world.


15 posted on 07/01/2018 7:40:00 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60's....You weren't really there)
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To: Retvet; ATOMIC_PUNK
Am I wrong, doesn’t the Constitution guarantee freedom of religion, not freedom from religion?

No, you are exactly right, and I continually wonder why none of out leaders make this point. They took and oath to defend the Constitution, after all, and you they apparently never read it. They should be called out on their dereliction of duty and lack of fealty to their oath.

16 posted on 07/01/2018 8:03:30 PM PDT by SandwicheGuy (*The butter acts as a lubricant and speeds up the CPU)
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To: Tax-chick

Just because the atheists are worse doesn’t make it a good thing.


17 posted on 07/01/2018 8:28:02 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Fight these psycho bastards till you crush them. Set up a “GoFundMe” defense fund. Get the best local lawyers around including combat vets from our various wars.

Take the legal fight to the Foundation etc. Go after them for harassment, frivolous lawsuits, defamation, etc.

Show them no mercy. Destroy them just like we did the Japanese enemy. Take no prisoners.


18 posted on 07/01/2018 8:52:40 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: FreedomPoster

These atheists are no better than ISIS, who destroyed gravestones of Allied troops killed in liberating their country—except US’ atheists are using US’ lawyers instead of ISIS goons.


19 posted on 07/02/2018 12:37:01 AM PDT by Does so (No mention of "Brown Shirts" on this page?)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

We really are a divided country. A house divided against itself can not stand.

JoMa


20 posted on 07/02/2018 2:34:20 AM PDT by joma89
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