Crosses and Atheists Clash Again, This Time in Utah

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by Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News U.S. Correspondent

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (Worthy News)-- Lawsuits against open displays of crosses appear to be on the rise. A series of 14 crosses erected in Utah to honor state Highway Patrol officers that have died on Utah roads are in danger of being removed, Worthy News has learned.

American Atheists, Inc., a Texas-based group is suing to have the crosses removed because someone may think that the fallen trooper may have been a Christian, which is considered anathema to the group.

HISTORY OF THE MONUMENTS

First erected in 1998, the crosses stand 12 feet high with 6-foot crossbars. The monuments were paid for with private funds and most stand on private property. All of the crosses were put up with the express permission of the troopers' families.

Crosses were selected for the memorials because they convey a message of death, remembrance, honor, gratitude, and sacrifice, say two men who are behind the cross project.

In 2006, the cross was declared a nonreligious, secular, symbol of death by Utah Legislature. This decision was upheld in 2007, when a federal district judge said the crosses communicate a secular message about deaths and did not constitute public endorsement of religion.

A three-judge panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver overturned the 2007 decision, saying that a "reasonable observer" would conclude that Christianity was being endorsed by the state of Utah and its Highway Patrol. "This may lead the reasonable observer to fear that Christians are likely to receive preferential treatment from the UHP," the justices wrote. "Unlike Christmas, which has been widely embraced as a secular holiday, there is no evidence in this case that the cross has been widely embraced by non-Christians as a secular symbol of death," they said. This statement shows that the judges overseeing the case have secular, non-religious leanings.

SUPPORTERS OF THE CROSSES

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff disagrees with the court and believes most reasonable people see the crosses as death markers.

"When someone driving sees that white cross, what goes through their mind? Someone died here, and not Jesus Christ. The context of the cross on the side of the road, means death," he said. "What else would you put up?"

According to Mr. Shurtleff no decision has been made as whether or not to appeal the decision, but that the state could ask either for a review by the full appeals court justices panel or petition for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing.

A succession of crosses in Mojave National Preserve erected to honor American war dead has been subjected to legal dispute for about ten years after a former park service employee sued to have the original cross removed because it was "unconstitutionally" located on government land.

Congress reacted by transferring land under the cross to private ownership. The U.S. Supreme Court, which has the final say in legal cases in the nation, refused to order the removal of the latest cross that was built on the property.

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