Posted on 06/17/2004 1:55:04 AM PDT by risk
9th Circuit topples Mojave desert cross SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that an 8-foot cross in the Mojave National Preserve is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.
Ruling 3-0 in Buono v. Norton, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court that had ruled against the cross, which has become both a war memorial and a place of worship at a Southern California desert site known as Sunrise Rock.
The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a retired National Park Service employee who objected to the religious symbolism of the steel-pipe structure, which sits about 10 miles south of Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Barstow. The cross, the subject of constant attack by vandals, was constructed in 1934 by a group of World War I veterans. According to a plaque they placed nearby, the cross was intended as a memorial, but has since attracted Christian worshipers. The cross has been covered by a heavy tarp after a federal judge in Riverside sided with the ACLU in 2002, ruling that the "primary effect of the presence of the cross" was to "advance religion." The San Francisco-based appeals court, however, did not indicate whether the cross must be immediately removed or whether it can remain covered pending new appeals. "We think this opinion makes it clear that the government has an obligation to take down the cross as soon as possible," said Peter Eliasberg, an ACLU attorney.
The park service did not return calls seeking comment yesterday on whether it would ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider, appeal to the Supreme Court or drop its appeals and remove the cross. Sixty years after the cross was constructed, Congress in 1994 declared the 1.6 million-acre area, which is covered with Joshua trees, a national preserve under the National Park Service's jurisdiction. The park service, however, defended the cross in court, saying the outcropping it rests on was being transferred to a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post in exchange for five acres of privately held land near the preserve, which is in San Bernardino County. Congress has also declared the site a war memorial. The government told the court that the pending land transfer made the case moot. But the appeals court said the transfer could take years, meaning that the cross was still on public land. Judge Alex Kozinski, a Reagan appointee, said that, even if the land was transferred, the cross may still be a government endorsement of religion. In ruling against the government, Kozinski noted that the park service has not opened the cross site to other permanent displays, religious or not. In 1999, the park service rejected an application for a monument to Buddha near the cross. Previous
By The Associated Press
06.08.04
Park Service covers California desert cross
Justice Department recommended action while it appeals federal judge's ruling ordering removal of Christian symbol from Mojave National Preserve site. 03.15.03
Liberal : someone who thinks they know what is best for everyone and never learns when to leave well enough alone.
ping
Uproot every cross and Star Of David from every public cemetary all over the country. Its an impermissable governmental establishment of religion. I usually respect Alex Kozinski but I think he's an idiot whose not aware of the long role of religion in the public life of this country. A complete sanitization of the public square would amount to a politically correct rewriting of history. But that's to be expected from the Nine Circus Clowns.
I say let the interested parties put up the Buddhas, stars of David, and whatnot on the site. Once it gets made private land, all that stuff can be taken away and the cross left.
Ardrossan WW1 Roll of Honour The left does not respect the rule of law long enough to even wait for the courts to complete their business. If they are going to rely on the courts to dog our society into forgetting the men who died in one of our most important contributions to global freedom, they could at least let the law take its course.
THERE THEY GO AGAIN!
""Sixty years after the cross was constructed, Congress in 1994 declared the 1.6 million-acre area, which is covered with Joshua trees, a national preserve under the National Park Service's jurisdiction.""
They took it as it lies. How many other historic churches are on public grounds?
Ever been to vally forge? There is a HISTORIC church on the grounds. Excellent little carved colonial soldiers around. Nixon's daughter was married there.
This one is publicly visible thats all.
Any lawyer who was/is a member of the ACLU should never ever be allowed to be Judge.
Two VCs were won by the 3rd in this war. Rifleman Kulbir Thapa, the first Gurkha to be so honoured, won his during the battle of Loos on 25th Sept 1915. Having been wounded, he lay for a day and a night with a badly wounded British soldier behind the first line of German trenches. The British soldier kept urging him to save himself but he refused. At dawn, the mist gave him enough cover to bring the soldier to a safer place, then he went back to help two of his fellow Gurkhas, bringing them to safety one by one. He returned to the British soldier and carried him in broad daylight to the Allied trenches under enemy fire. --The 4th Gurkha Rifles.
I would welcome other memorials perhaps in other places, possibly in a geometric space of several hundred meters. But this cross is beautiful by itself. I would not want to change that.
the anti-christian jihad continues
I tend to agree.
A backlash is coming.
NEVER FORGET WW1 ping
You don't send judges with court orders into combat. Lawyer is not a front line job desription.
Perhaps in a soldiers other life they were those carears, bullets from enemy soldiers don't care about law degrees.
It's going to go private in a few years. It would be worth having giant Buddhas standing around the site for a few years, to keep the cross up.
Sorry SOBs!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where it says:
Malone
Americans need to be united in defending our culture. After all, that is what the ACLU is trying to change with its continual stream of anti-Christian cases.
Here we have the religion of amnesia being imposed on us by someone whose true motivations escape me. Those who would desecrate the memory of our fallen -- before the court had even ruled -- before the appeals are even done with -- are beyond description.
| Gallipoli casualties (compiled from various sources) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Died | Wounded | Total | |
| Australia | 8,709 | 19,441 | 28,150 |
| New Zealand | 2,701 | 4,852 | 7,553 |
| Britain | 21,255 | 52,230 | 73,485 |
| France ( estimated ) | 10,000 | 17,000 | 27,000 |
| India | 1,358 | 3,421 | 4,779 |
| Newfoundland | 49 | 93 | 142 |
| Total Allies | 44,072 | 97,037 | 141,109 |
| Turkey | 86,692 | 164,617 | 251,309 |
We must not rest until this ruling has been taken all the way to the supreme court.
there is a backlash coming and the ACLU and liberals a really not going to like it.
The backlash they should and will dread won't come in this lifetime.
"The cross, the subject of constant attack by vandals, was constructed in 1934 by a group of World War I veterans. According to a plaque they placed nearby, the cross was intended as a memorial, but has since attracted Christian worshipers."
I'm Christian and I like to go to McDonalds.....I guess they better take down those golden Arches.
Its a Memorial by a group of WWI vets.
The ALL COMMUNIST LAWYERS UNION isn't just attacking Christians now. They are gonna go after anything that show the beliefs of valued liberty that is a part of this country's history.
Even if it was intended for religion....the 9th court of idiots has forgotten a very important phrase...
"or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
Thats the part of the 1st Amendment that liberals don't like to quote. And the 9th has written decisions and left it out of the reasoning several times.
If these punks keep pushing their luck...they are gonna get a response that they can't handle.
The efn ACLU needs to be prosecuted for hate crimes against Christians. They need to be sued from here to kingdom come for harassment . Wake up America, these M&****UC**s need to be stopped. How dare they pull this Sh*$! It was put there by WW1 veterans!
This is not a totalitarian nation, at least not yet, We do not have to take this bullsh#* If we let the scum get away with this or taking the cross off the LA seal there won't be a Mission or historical monument left. C'mon California, time to rebel again.
Hellooo Christian's, don't just sit there in the pew and pray for God to stop them, Go out and stop them, demonstrate. We have the ability to help ourselves in this nation, we need to pray, but we need demonstrations, letter writing, give support to the organizations that are going after the ACLU and stop voting for democrats, recall every single legislator that voted to remove the cross. Reach out to the Hispanic community about this too. STOP VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS- they have the same agenda as the ACLU- they want Christianity banned.
You know Ronald Reagan defeated communism in Russia, but he couldn't have known that we were going to import it here and call it ACLU and democrat party.
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