{"id":279,"date":"2010-04-29T12:58:13","date_gmt":"2010-04-29T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-sends-signal-kee.html"},"modified":"2010-04-29T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2010-04-29T12:58:13","slug":"supreme-court-sends-signal-kee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-sends-signal-kee.html","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Sends Signal: Keep Cross Where It Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fractured Supreme Court<\/a> yesterday decided to remand–or send back to the lower court–the contentious case involving a congressional “land swap” that allowed the Veterans of Foreign Wars to keep a cross up in the Mojave National Preserve. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the plurality opinion that noted that the federal district court that initially decided the case should have reviewed more carefully all the “facts of circumstances” surrounding the congressional action to trade the acre where the cross had been erected for a few less visible acres elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Frankly, Jay, it seemed like Justice Kennedy and four of his colleagues were virtually ordering the lower court to find some reason (I’d say, excuse) to find that this cross was not merely a Christian symbol–that it symbolized the service of all veterans of World War I.  I find this argument highly unpersuasive. The cross is a Christian symbol.  It has no meaning (except under some historical circumstances a negative meaning) for members of the Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu faith.  It signifies nothing to humanists or non-believers, either.  Therefore, it cannot be the emblematic representation of the sacrifice of all veterans. <\/p>\n


\n
Moreover, the Congress members action to make this deal was only one more sad example of a “high five sign for Jesus”, its annoying impetus to do whatever looks good for their predominantly Christian constituencies.  If the object that had been illegally erected 70 years ago on what was then clearly government property had been a Buddhist shrine or a secular peace garden or any one of a thousand other symbols, Congress would not have lifted a finger.  <\/p>\n

The lawyer who brought this case for the ACLU in Southern California noted that he still hopes to prevail in the lower court.  I certainly hope he does.  This will require that the judge there acknowledges the evidence supporting the clear preferential treatment that has long been accorded this religious symbol at this site in this desert and adds a dollop of commonsense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fractured Supreme Court yesterday decided to remand–or send back to the lower court–the contentious case involving a congressional “land swap” that allowed the Veterans of Foreign Wars to keep a cross up in the Mojave National Preserve. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the plurality opinion that noted that the federal district court that initially decided…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,75,146,66],"tags":[385,68,330,51,67,388],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constitutional-law","category-establishment-clause","category-memorials","category-religious-displays","tag-congress","tag-cross","tag-mohave-national-preserve","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court Sends Signal: Keep Cross Where It Is - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-sends-signal-kee.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court Sends Signal: Keep Cross Where It Is - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A fractured Supreme Court yesterday decided to remand–or send back to the lower court–the contentious case involving a congressional “land swap” that allowed the Veterans of Foreign Wars to keep a cross up in the Mojave National Preserve. 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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\/279","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=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}