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Freedom Group Protests Cross at Charleston Firehouse
JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A group that supports the separation of religion and state wants a cross removed from in front of a Charleston fire station that city officials say honors nine firefighters killed battling a furniture store blaze.
The fight over the cross extends from a battle the Freedom from Religion Foundation had with the city last December when the group complained about a nativity scene in front of the same fire station. Officials added secular decorations, including snowmen, to comply with the law.
Most of the decorations came down by the new year, but the cross stayed up, the city saying it was now a memorial to the firefighters killed in June 2007, said Rebecca Markert, a lawyer for the foundation.
The foundation didn't buy the explanation, sending a letter last week to the city threatening to sue if the cross is not removed because it violates the U.S. Constitution by endorsing a specific religion. The group also said for the past five years the same cross had been removed at the same time as the Christmas items.
"We believe it is a sham to say it is now part of a permanent memorial when before it was being put up and taken down in December as part of Christmas," Markert said Tuesday.
The cross rests near a stone memorial with the names of the nine Charleston firefighters killed as they fought a blaze at the Sofa Super Store.
Lawyers for the city told officials it was a legal display because it is a secular emblem of death.
"The message communicated by the cross is clearly one of honoring fallen firefighters and not of furthering a religious purpose," lawyers for the city said in a news release.
The letter from the foundation gave the city a May 14 deadline to take down the cross.
Related
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A group that supports the separation of religion and state wants a cross removed from in front of a Charleston fire station that city officials say honors nine firefighters killed battling a furniture store blaze.
The fight over the cross extends from a battle the Freedom from Religion Foundation had with the city last December when the group complained about a nativity scene in front of the same fire station. Officials added secular decorations, including snowmen, to comply with the law.
Most of the decorations came down by the new year, but the cross stayed up, the city saying it was now a memorial to the firefighters killed in June 2007, said Rebecca Markert, a lawyer for the foundation.
The foundation didn't buy the explanation, sending a letter last week to the city threatening to sue if the cross is not removed because it violates the U.S. Constitution by endorsing a specific religion. The group also said for the past five years the same cross had been removed at the same time as the Christmas items.
"We believe it is a sham to say it is now part of a permanent memorial when before it was being put up and taken down in December as part of Christmas," Markert said Tuesday.
The cross rests near a stone memorial with the names of the nine Charleston firefighters killed as they fought a blaze at the Sofa Super Store.
Lawyers for the city told officials it was a legal display because it is a secular emblem of death.
"The message communicated by the cross is clearly one of honoring fallen firefighters and not of furthering a religious purpose," lawyers for the city said in a news release.
The letter from the foundation gave the city a May 14 deadline to take down the cross.
Related
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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It is still a symbol of "oppression to many". Are you saying that it is OK for firefighters and fire departments to display a secular symbol that is a "symbol of oppression" but it is not OK to display a religious equivalent?
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Either is prohibited Constitutionally. So...why is one OK and the other supposedly is not?
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Permalink Reply by Joseph M Denneen Jr. on
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They cannot think of the peace the cross might bring,they are to busy being offended.
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Jack, come on, dude!!! Old Glory was involved in a significant amount of political, racial, and religious persecution during our country's history...sometimes all three at the same time.
How about the flag that the U.S. Army carried in the American West when they slaughtered Native Americans...men, women, and children...in the name of American Imperialism, and in the name of stamping out the Native Americans' religion? And...please don't try to tell me that particular persecution wasn't racial.
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Jack, come on, again, dude. You were responding to me, not to Christians who seem to think that athests are bad people.
Context man, context.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Ben, Ben, Ben...I get it, you're all about defending the right to be a christian. You shouldn't feel so threatened about it, no one is taking your belief, or right to believe, away. Everything will be okay.
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Vic, the seperation of church and state is for the organization, not the individual. That particular legislation is intended to prevent the formation of a State Church - such as the Church of England - in the US.
It was never intended, nor does it say, that individual rights to freely express their religion stop on public property or when you work in the public sector.
Further, if the entire city votes for something that is clearly un-Constitutional, the law is quite clear - that is an illegal law and it will not stand nor can it be enforced.
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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
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Some how we have crossed wires. I am so confused. I know he is dead.
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Actually, they do factor in to this topic. Are you saying that individuals don't have the right to passively demonstrate their religious affiliation on public property when they are alive, but it suddenly becomes OK after they die???
If that's the case, I believe you are mistaken. Please re-read Amendment 1 to the Bill of Rights where it states that the free excercise of freedom of religion shall not be infringed. There is no exception for that infringement on public property, be the individual alive or dead.
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I did miss that part of your comment. But is not the Super Store private property? There is a difference.
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It is also un-American to protest someone else's right to passively demonstrate a religious affiliation on public property - a right that is enumerated in Amendment 1 to the Bill of Rights.
That goes for the cross at the CFD station, or a display by other religions including the ones Jack/dt spoke of in the comments about the Mohave cross above.
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