By Ben Stein on 10.19.09 @ 6:08AM
The mean ACLU is at it again.
So, the ACLU is at it again. They are suing to take down a cross
on a huge public swath of desert in Southern California. The
cross is a memorial to Americans who died in war. It has been
there for decades although now it's wrapped up in a box. As you
might guess, the ACLU says the cross offends Jews and Moslems and
atheists. The issue is before the Supreme Court as a First
Amendment Freedom of Religion issue. To the ACLU this means "a
right of the atheists to dominate everyone else" issue. And, of
course, the Supreme Court makes whatever law it chooses to make
so there is no controlling precedent except what the Court makes
up. So, in that spirit, a few humble thoughts....
Here are a few reasons why the cross should stay:
The great majority, the overwhelming majority, of the Americans
who have died to keep us free were and are Christians. Take a
look at Arlington National Cemetery or the American graveyard at
Normandy, France. What you see are almost all crosses or crosses
on monuments. It is an insult to the memory of those people for
some lawyers to take down the symbol of the faith they believed
in as they fell. Are we going to take all of those crosses down
and replace them with meaningless rectangles? Those crosses
represent Christians who died to keep America free for us Jews
and everyone else. Are we now going to thank them by taking down
their crosses? That would be revolting.
Anyway, if we head down this path, is there any stopping point
short of state-ordered atheism? Will we bar chapels at military
bases? Will we close the chapels at West Point and Annapolis and
Colorado Springs? Will we fire all the military chaplains and
replace them with peoples' commissars? Will we end prayers at
Congress? Where in the history of this country is there any
precedent for such an attack on religion?
Look, this is a nation founded on faith. The dominant faith is
Christianity and I am happy it is. It is a generous, tolerant
faith that has been incredibly good to every other faith and to
atheists. Those of us who are not Christians might want to stop
pushing Christians around. They don't deserve it. It won't be
pretty if they are ever start pushing back. Not only that, I will
tell you when I start to worry: when this country no longer is a
Christian country. That will be bad times for everyone, and
really, the end of America. The cross out there in the desert is
not hurting anyone and it helps some. There is no reason to take
it down except for pure trouble making and meanness of spirit.
