{"id":232,"date":"2009-10-07T15:39:51","date_gmt":"2009-10-07T15:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/10\/mojave-cross-a-constitution.html"},"modified":"2009-10-07T15:39:51","modified_gmt":"2009-10-07T15:39:51","slug":"mojave-cross-a-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/10\/mojave-cross-a-constitution.html","title":{"rendered":"Mojave Cross — A Constitutional Crisis Indeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

It was a pleasure seeing you, too. I always am up for a great photo-op, too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As you know, I’m heading to New York right now to appear on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss this very case. But here are some of my thoughts in advance. <\/p>\n

To me, the most shocking comment of the day came from Justice Antonin Scalia. He actually said that this cross represents all veterans, even those who are not Christian. He said it was an “outrageous conclusion” that the cross is a symbol of Christianity and claims it is symbol of a “resting place.” <\/p>\n

Is Scalia seriously arguing that the cross is no longer a religious symbol? Now THAT is an outrageous conclusion. I believe our veterans deserve to be honored just as much as you do, Jay. But why do we need to use a Christian symbol to do that at the expense of excluding those of different faiths? <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


\nAs I told the press this morning on the portico of the Supreme Court, moments before I ran into you:
\n 
\n “The cross in Mojave Reserve has no historic significance, it has no
\nsecular significance; it is a powerful symbol of the dominant religion
\nin this country and, as such, it has no business being in the Mojave
\nPreserve.<\/p>\n

“There is not one reasonable person,” I continued, “who drives on those
\nroads and sees this cross on one acre who doesn’t think that that acre
\nis controlled — like the 1.6 million other acres — by the federal
\ngovernment for people of all faiths, no faiths and people of all
\nideological persuasions.”<\/p>\n

A few quick words about “standing” – – the right to sue. I agree with
\nyou that it is very hard to read where Justice Kennedy will stand on
\nthis issue. My hope is that he will agree that standing, or Buono’s
\nright to sue in this case, should not even be open for discussion. <\/p>\n

First off, as Americans United wrote in a friend-of-the-court<\/a> brief
\nin this case, religious symbols on government land do inflict harm on
\nthe observer that is far too significant to go unremedied. <\/p>\n

AU’s brief cites to studies that show even “subliminal exposure to a
\nsymbol of one’s own faith can yield physical as well as psychological
\nbenefits, while similar exposure to what one might consider a
\n‘negative’ religious symbol can be correspondingly detrimental.”<\/p>\n

You are suggesting that the high court should use this case to get rid
\nof Americans’ right to sue in cases such as these. That would overturn
\ndecades of settled law in a way that would be detrimental to our civil
\nliberties.  Citizens subjected to government-sponsored religion through
\nspoken or written words can bring a lawsuit. I don’t see how someone
\nsubjected to that same message in a symbolic form somehow loses that
\nright. <\/p>\n

But I’m hoping, based on what I heard in court today, that I don’t have to worry about that. <\/p>\n

Our justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed to be under
\nthe impression during oral arguments today that standing should not be
\ndiscussed in this case. And if I read the justices correctly, I
\ncouldn’t agree more. <\/p>\n

I don’t know how our justices are going to come out on this case. But I know AU and our allies have a winning argument. <\/p>\n

I’d also just like to add that Frank Buono, the offended-observer
\nplaintiff in this case, is not an “ideologically motivated citizen,” as
\nyou suggest. He is a Catholic who told Americans United’s Church &
\nState<\/i><\/a> magazine that he believes the greatest threat to freedom of
\nreligion is “when the government is not neutral toward religion.” To
\nhim, this cross on public land seemed like the government preferred one
\nreligion over others, and he knows that is not fair or right. It’s as
\nsimple as that.<\/p>\n

The sad truth is that the government has been shameless in trying to
\nkeep this cross up, all the while knowing it has denied other religious
\ngroups the same opportunity. I hope the U.S. Supreme Court sees this
\ncase for what it really is and ends this 10-year-long battle by
\nremoving this unconstitutional cross. <\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, It was a pleasure seeing you, too. I always am up for a great photo-op, too. As you know, I’m heading to New York right now to appear on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss this very case. But here are some of my thoughts in advance. To me, the most shocking comment of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,69],"tags":[266,51,67,268,265,267],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religious-displays","category-supreme-court","tag-mojave-desert-cross","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-religious-displays-on-government-land","tag-salazar-v-buono","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nMojave Cross - A Constitutional Crisis Indeed - Lynn v. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}