Religious-rights attorneys are challenging a decision by the new president of the historic College of William and Mary in Virginina to remove a cross from the college's equally historic chapel.
Last month, William and Mary President Gene Nichol ordered the cross removed from the altar of Wren Chapel and placed in a closet, because he was afraid it might offend non-Christians.
Nichol, who served as head of the Task Force on Gay and Lesbian Issues when he was at the University of Colorado, said the cross "sends an unmistakable message that the chapel belongs more fully to some of us than others."
Liberty Counsel President Mathew Staver sent a letter to the college requesting the cross be reinstated.
"By removing the cross from where it has stood for over 75 years and hiding it in a closet, the College of William and Mary has sent the unmistakable message of hostility to Christianity," Staver said. "A cross in a chapel should not offend a reasonable person, anymore than a gavel in a courtroom."
Interestingly, the new chancellor of the school is former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
The College of William and Mary was founded in 1693 to train Christian ministers and missionaries to Indians in the Virginia colony.
