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As groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom from Religion Foundation ferociously seek to rid the nation of any evidence of its Christian heritage, Focus on the Family, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Liberty Legal Institute will come along side the American Legion in a campaign to protect veterans memorials from assault.ADF commissioned a special song and music video highlighting the issue, which is viewable at the bottom of this article.Doug Napier, senior legal counsel for ADF, said the memorials must be defended."Crosses on veterans memorials have been under attack, despite claims to the contrary by the ACLU and others," he said. "One only needs to look to what's happening with the memorials at Mt. Soledad and in the Mojave Desert to see this."For nearly two decades, San Diego's Mt. Soledad National War memorial-placed in 1954 to honor of those who died in the Korean War-has been under assault. In 1989, atheist Philip Paulson challenged the cross that is the centerpiece of the memorial.He claimed its presence was an endorsement of religion by the government.In 2005 California voters approved a measure that authorized the transfer of the land underneath the memorial to the federal government.In February, the California Supreme Court declined an appeal challenging the transfer.As of now, the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial stands.A 4-foot cross erected in the Mojave Desert to honor WWI veterans has been standing for 70 years. In 2001 the site, near Barstow, Calif., was designated a National Memorial.Former Park Service employee Frank Buono, assisted by the ACLU, sued to get the cross removed. A federal judge in Riverside, Calif., ordered the government to remove it. The Park Service appealed, and the matter now rests with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.While the case proceeds, the cross remains encased in a plywood shell.The ACLU and its allies have indicated that both Mt. Soledad and Mojave are test cases, Napier said. If they are successful, they plan on attacking any memorial that displays any religious symbol."They have this vision for America that is stripped and sanitized of any religious reference," he said.Such groups, Napier said, claim they aren't opposed to veterans, just religious symbols-but attacking memorials dishonors the memory of veterans."Veterans fought for these very freedoms," he said, "the freedom to worship, the freedom to express religious thought, the freedom to erect memorials that bear religious symbols."To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
As in the days of Noah...
