The Salt Lake Tribune reports on yesterday's 10th Circuit ruling that large roadside crosses memorializing fallen members of the Utah Highway Patrol are unconstitutional.
“It’s a decision that had to be made,” said the Rev. Tom Goldsmith, of Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church. “We need to learn that God and country is not one word.”
…
Rabbi Joshua Aaronson, of Park City’s Temple Har Shalom, agreed with Wednesday’s decision, although he backs religious symbols on private land.“Our country is best served,” he said, “when government is neutral about religion.”
They're right! And not only is the country best served by this affirmation of government neutrality, so is religion. After all, the state's defense in this case largely hinges on the argument that crosses are no more religious than Christmas trees! That would be the cost of merging government speech and religious imagery: the religion.
When government co-opts our most precious religious symbols, and tells us they are mere generic expressions, having "evolved" into a secular statement, it is no favor to religion. Certainly, it's a shocking dilution of the Christian faith, and would seem to be an insult to the intelligence of every minority faith and nonbeliever, who are no doubt well acquainted with the preeminent symbol of this country's dominant religion.
