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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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.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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Vic, you are not looking hard enough, then.
Jack called Russ out on what he said.
I called both you and him out - together - twice elsewhere in this thread.
in case you missed it, I said that his FTM comment was unwarrented and a voilation of the user agreement. I said the same about your F-bomb response.
I disagree with your opinion here, but I did not deride your beliefs.
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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Ben, you never have been uncivil to me, and I hope I have shown the same respect to you. Feel free to call me out if I choose my words poorly or come across overly hard-edge.
I do not have the same respect or courtesy for the number of posters who consider me a "kook," "nut," "anti-American," anti-Christ" or whatever. I'll drop it there, and I encourage the mod to delete both comments.
For all of you defending this display, I do respect your views, beliefs, and religion. I disagree with you on this issue, and that will probably never change, even if the courts are starting to swing the other direction.
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Vic,
Assuming by "the other guy" you mean Russ, I castigated him.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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After reading all of the posts to date, and the accompanying emotions that go along with it, your post hits the nail on the head. What can possibly be wrong with giving the living a place to share and deal with their loss and grief? Compassion and understanding have to be a part of the equation here.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Armstrong on
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I did not read every post in this disscussion but I will tell you that it is a cryin shame that you live in a country but your government has allowed a group of people to bitch enough that they have went ahead so far as to make a law that in my opinion infringes on a christian or any other faith to put a cross or any other thing like the star of david etc. in front of their hall.the ones who are at fault here are the ones who do not believe in christ and have whined enuf that your government went ahead and passed a bill that says ok Believers you cannot show you believe because the athiasts are getting upset with you cause you are trying to force them into converting to what ever religion it is by placing that cross or star in front of your hall or church or house.Like if it were up to me me I would tell them to turn their heads.Whats next if I move from Canada and I bitched about all of the people who had american flags and i took offence to it would you stop flyin your flag?I think that the atiasts should just shut up and quite their whining and relize that putting a cross up is not to convert buddy but to show thier own faith or really in this case to remember fallen comrades.Some people just wake up in the moring and say to themselves who and how can I piss someone off today get over it trouble makers
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Voges on
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Do you even know what Separation of Church and State is? I am wondering since that has nothing to do with this. All that Separation of Church and State is, the government can not dictate what the church can and can not do. Further more it came about in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the president.
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Jack,
Don't.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Don't:
stop believing?
ask don't tell?
say a word?
tread on me?
worry, be happy?
stand so close to me?
talk to strangers?
go breakin' my heart?
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You know all the best songs! (But the answer is: The obvious).
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Correction: DO the obvious. It's a new tune - real obscure band.
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