Another day, another chance for a historic religious landmark to be scrubbed because it might offend someone.
Lehigh County in Pennsylvania recently had to defend its seal in court against the Freedom From Religion Foundation, FFRF, a militant atheist group that wants to scrub the seal from the state’s history. FFRF sued the county, demanding the image of a cross be removed from that seal for allegedly establishing Christianity as the official religion of the area. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals will now be forced to decide whether the law requires stripping all religious symbols from the public square or protecting them as a legitimate part of our country’s history and culture.
Ironically, no one else has ever complained about the seal, which has been on display for over 70 years. Pennsylvania is chock-full of religious folks, and this seal represents the area’s early German settlers who fled persecution in Europe for religious freedom in America.
“FFRF is like the wicked witch of the west: A drop of religion and they scream ‘I’m melting!’” said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Lehigh County. “But flags with historically-significant religious images are part of American culture: New Mexico’s flag has the sacred sun symbol of the Zia Native American tribe, Louisiana’s has a Catholic symbol of a pelican with a bleeding heart to feed its hatchlings the Eucharist, and Utah’s has multiple images that recall the Mormon pioneers.” Having reported on several lawsuits filed by FFRF (all about relatively obscure issues, and all with the same bigoted zeal), I could not have said that better myself.
Another group with significant animus toward religion has sued the city of Pensacola for its historic World War II-era memorial cross — and won. Kind of, at least. In 1941, the local chapter of the Junior Chamber of Commerce placed a wooden cross in Pensacola’s Bayview Park just before the U.S. prepared to enter World War II. For decades, groups have hosted community events at the memorial, including Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day remembrances. It is still a gathering place for the Pensacola community. The cross is one of over 170 displays in Pensacola parks reflecting different aspects of the city’s unique history and culture. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the American Humanist Association, which sued on behalf of four people who said they found the cross offensive. The court said it was bound by “flawed precedent” from 35 years ago that “needs to be reversed.” The city says it will appeal.
There are many serious injustices in society today, but the placement of a cross or religious phrase on a local symbol is not one of them. That grouchy groups like FFRF feel the need to regularly sue localities for supposedly endorsing religion because of these symbols is surly at best, and a waste of resources at worst.
America was founded primarily so its new residents could enjoy religious freedom. It only makes sense, then, that religious symbols would pepper the entire country. These symbols not only describe our country’s religious origin, they also remind us of her more religious past. Scrubbing them from public land is irresponsible, and a waste of time and money.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’ s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
