Don't Cross Me!

The US Supreme Court ruled April 28 in Salazar vs Buono that the US District Court for Central California must review its 2005 ruling that the transfer of land in the Mojave Desert bearing a metal Latin cross from the federal government to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) was unconstitutional. The land was given to VFW by Congress in 2004 because the Court had ruled in 2002 that the placing of the cross on federal land by VFW in 1934, to honor American soldiers killed in World War I, was a violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause. The Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals had upheld the decision in the case brought by Frank Buono, a former employee of the National Park Service.

Speaking for the Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, " Here one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles..." Justice Kennedy was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito.

In a dissent joined by Associate Justices Ginzburg, Breyer and Sotomayor, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the government "cannot lawfully (honor fallen soldiers) by continued endorsement of a starkly sectarian message." (1)

The court should have applied the famous "Lemon Test" (2) to this case. In this 1971 ruling, the Court held that every valid law must have a "secular legislative purpose." Since the Court did not reverse Lemon in the Buono decision, the Court must have considered the transfer of the land bearing the cross to the VFW to have had a "secular purpose;" in the words of Justice Kennedy, to evoke the crosses on American military graves.

The trouble with his reasoning is that not all of these graves bear crosses; Jewish soldiers have died in every major war that America fought since the Civil War, and recently Muslims have also perished in combat for the USA. The graves of these soldiers bear the Magen David or the Crescent. Moreover, a large (but unknown) number of fallen American soldiers held no religious beliefs at all. (3) The cross, which symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, is the logo of Christianity, and of no other religion or system of philosophy. As such, it should never be used by the federal government to honor the sacrifice of fallen soldiers, many of whom were not Christians.

Those who oppose the intrusion of the federal government into the lives of Americans should deplore the Buono decision, since the promotion of any particular religion is clearly outside the proper role of that government. This is my view.

It is particularly noteworthy that the only justice appointed by President Barack Obama, Sonia Sotomayor, voted to affirm the ruling of the district court that the cross must go. Readers will recall that the central reason given by the Glazerbeam to prefer Obama over John McCain for president was that Obama was more likely to appoint judges more supportive of civil liberties and the separation of church and state. (4) Justice Sotomayor has confirmed this expectation in this case. Had the election gone the other way, I believe the vote cast by the newest justice would also have gone the other way.

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(1) The Associated Press, April 29, 2010.

(2) Lemon vs Kurtzman, 403 US 602 (1971).

(3) I would suggest the Question Mark (?) as the symbol for agnosticism. However, agnostics are not organized enough to get together and adopt a symbol.
Empty space might be a good symbol for atheism, but I cannot draw or model it.
For Wicca, how about the Broomstick?

(4) See "Reject McCain and Palin", October 6, 2008.