Christianity, Crosses and Controversy
4 Nov
This is a rather dated story, but its continuing to make the rounds in the atheist blogosphere, so I thought I’d weigh in.
On a highway in southern Utah, midway between Tropic and Cedar City, a mammoth cross marks the place where, 29 years ago this month, state trooper Lynn Pierson was killed by a car thief. Pierson’s son Clint, a 36-year-old county deputy, sees the stark white memorial every time he takes his kids to the local Wal-Mart. “It’s a huge source of pride,” he says. “As a family, it helped us heal.”
There are 14 such crosses, all of them 12 feet tall, scattered around the state, each bearing the name of a dead trooper and the Utah Highway Patrol insignia. They were erected by the privately funded Utah Highway Patrol Association beginning in 1998, and whether they continue to stand is in the hands of a federal judge in Salt Lake City, who must decide if the crosses are symbols of remembrance or religion. U.S. District Judge David Sam heard arguments earlier this week on both sides of the constitutional debate and has promised to rule soon.
The controversy started in December 2005, when American Atheists Inc. filed suit to have the markers removed, arguing that the cross is a universal symbol of Christianity and, when placed on public property, illegal. The lawsuit sparked outrage from the families of fallen officers, other police officers and legislators. Even some atheists went out of their way to dissociate themselves from the Texas-based group.
American Atheists recently posted on their website that the reason they’re fighting the display of these memorials is because they’re “an affront to the Utah Constitution and the Constitution of the United States.” They argue — as do many atheists — that the crosses are a Christian symbol and that there are better ways to honor fallen police officers that don’t promote a particular religion.
The courts so far have agreed with this position. In August, 2010, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, “We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion.
I perfectly understand those points, and on the surface, I agree with them.
However Assistant Attorney General, Thom Roberts, argued in court that the cross — while initially a religious symbol — has evolved into a secular one much in the way Christmas and businesses being closed on Sunday have become secularized. He went on to argue that the cross has become widely recognized as a universal symbol of death having lost much of its Christian connotation.
At this stage in my thinking, I tend to agree with Mr. Roberts. This is only my opinion, mind you, but I think that the cross has lost much of its religious impact in our secular society. When I see the cross displayed on the side of the road where an accident claimed a victim, my immediate thought isn’t that the person was a Christian or that it’s a religious display, but rather that it’s a place where someone died.
Some would argue that, “Well, would you be saying the same thing if it was the Star of David on the side of the road?”
My answer is no because that’s still tied directly to Judaism — it hasn’t been secularized like many Christian symbols and customs have.
I understand that among atheists, I’m probably in the minority on this right now (American Atheists called this position, “astoundingly ridiculous.”) However, I would like to ask those atheists who disagree with me if they still celebrate Christmas. I know many who do and I’ve always found that a little humorous. They’ll fight tooth-and-nail against something like this, but they’ll gladly embrace a holiday that wouldn’t exist without Christianity.
To me, the subject of the crosses as memorials is the same thing. If we atheists can enjoy a Christian holiday like Christmas, then we should be able to see these memorials as simple reminders of a death that occurred rather than an endorsement of a particular religion, which I believe is their intent.
I have no doubt that there are plenty who think that I’m way off base on this, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that I hadn’t thought something completely through. So please, if you have a good case to make, let me know your thoughts.
Is the cross still tied directly to Christianity or has it lost much of its religious trappings much like Christmas? And, as an atheist, how do you choose which Christian (or any religious) customs to embrace and which to fight against?
And about the celebration of Christmas issue:
So the Earth wouldn’t reach its furthest point from the sun and begin revolving back if Jesus hadn’t been born? People were celebrating that a long time before 0 AD. There’s no reason to think we wouldn’t be celebrating the winter solstice complete with holly, mistletoe, gift-giving and the rest without Christianity. It could have become a big secular holiday like Halloween. That’s how I celebrate it anyway.
This is one of those cases where I would really, really like to be able to bow out and not say a word. My first impulse is to agree and let this one slide. There are just a few assumptions and implications here I’d like to point out.
That attorney general’s opinion of the cross being a secularized symbol? Pure chicanery, and a dangerous precedent. Let this pass unchallenged and it will be used as an excuse to smear the landscape with Christian symbolism.
The cross is secularized? Not to everyone. There are those to whom, in a very real sense, the cross signifies conquered territory. The presence of those crosses grants their arguments legitimacy.
The cross symbolizes one guy’s death? Again, not to everyone. To Constantine it was the sign under which he would conquer. To the Family, the Vatican, the Quiverfull movement and others it’s the same.
I’d like to follow up with a question: what’s the difference between those crosses and the Ten Commandments outside courthouses? If you permit one, are you bound to permit the other.
I may be nitpicking, but since I started reading Jeff Sharlet’s “The Family” I’ve gained a new appreciation for this very real organization, the very real damage it has done here and in other countries, and the even greater damage they plan to do once the buffer of secularism is removed.
@Prayforrain: Thanks for the comment. I think we’re on the same wavelength here. While I do oppose state sponsored or endorsed religion, I don’t feel these crosses cross the line. When I see things like this I don’t feel like it’s Christianity being shoved in my face. I see them as death markers and nothing more in this context.
Also, I’m with you about going after bigger fish. Teaching creationism in schools as science is a bigger fish in my opinion.
@Misanthropic Scott (Nice handle BTW) No, I’m not joking. As I stated this is my opinion and it isn’t based on any kind of scientific data. In my mind the cross is becoming secularized, albeit slowly. Crosses in cemeteries, at the side of the road, hell even at pet cemeteries, to me, seem more to mark a grave or place of death than to promote a religion.
I can’t comment on your cross burning analogy because I fail to see how it relates to this story. I also can’t comment to the comment about malls being open on Sunday because I also don’t see how it relates to this story.
The point I’m making is that some Christian customs and symbols have passed over into the secular realm even though they may still be held in high regard by Christians.
I use Christmas quite a bit when I make this argument simply because I know so many atheists who celebrate that holiday and have no problem doing so. I say, ” How can you? It’s still a Christian Holiday.” They’ll say, “But I don’t celebrate the Christian parts.”
Fine. Then when the issue of these crosses comes up, I say, “I’m seeing them as a secular symbol in certain contexts.” You say, “But, you can’t, it’s a Christian symbol.”
Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Thanks for the comment.
Go to any cemetery and you can see fields of crosses all commemorating the dead. Crosses on the side of the road where someone died are the same thing.
I am an avowed atheist but this issue is childish nit-picking. If the families of the dead troopers agree with the crosses then they should stay.
We should live and let live. I recommend we leave this triviality alone and concentrate on important issues.
A secular symbol? Really? Are you joking? You mean that as recently as a few score years ago, people were burning secular symbols on the lawns of their neighbors?
I think not.
As for Sunday, I’m glad to see that the blue laws, based on the religious interpretation of the wrong day of the sabbath by Christians (yup, Jesus thought it was Saturday), are largely being repealed. Liquor stores in my home state may now open on Sunday, though still, no alcohol may be sold before noon, a silly hold-over that I hope will be removed.
And, just as an aside, when was the last time you went to a major shopping mall that was not open on a Sunday?
“When I see the cross displayed on the side of the road where an accident claimed a victim, my immediate thought isn’t that the person was a Christian or that it’s a religious display, but rather that it’s a place where someone died.”
There is a big difference in this case. These are not random crosses planted across the state where the Troopers died. They are all strung together in a single memorial: funded by the state and on state property.
If the cross is so secular, then why are so many Christians clamoring to stop their removal or relocation? There are no Hindus or Muslims clamoring for them to stay there.
It is a dishonor to those fallen Troopers to place a cross in their name when there is religious diversity within the Utah Troopers.
@Blair Scott: Thanks for the comment. I understand the point about the crosses being on state property, and if these were being erected in order to show the world about Jesus, I would probably have a bigger problem with them. As they are, I see them as a memorial of the dead and not an endorsement of religion — at least in this context.
As to your point about Christians clamoring to stop their removal, well, Christians clamor about many things including the fact that some people don’t say Merry Christmas and instead say, Happy Holidays.