American Atheists Inc. won another battle Wednesday in its ongoing “separation of church and state” legal crusade against Christianity.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the atheists that 14 memorial crosses – placed along public highways in memory of fallen Utah state troopers – could be construed as an endorsement of Christianity by the government.
American Atheists spokesman, David Silverman, said “If you want to allow crosses on the side of the road, then you must allow everybody to put up a monument of equal size and equal stature on any road they please.”
The Utah Highway Patrol Association, a private organization that raises donations for the memorial efforts, had received the permission of state authorities to place the 12-foot crosses.
The Denver-based, three-judge panel said, “We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion.”
Byron Babione, with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the appeals court got it wrong.
“The Supreme Court has said that it’s fine for our nation’s practices to contain components and aspects that represent religious symbols or are religious in nature,” he said. “This obviously serves a valid secular purpose – that’s memorializing the sacrifice that these officers made with their lives.”
Babione added that families of the troopers were extremely disappointed.
“One atheist group’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by Utah highway patrol officers and their families,” he said. “The families of the fallen should be allowed to honor their loved ones as they wish.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the 10th Circuit opinion.
Print
