A new alliance will work to protect religious symbols at veterans memorials.
One example of the offenses they'll be taking on: at Sunrise Rock in the Mojave Desert, the cross at the World War I veterans memorial is covered by an ugly plywood box – thanks to an ongoing suit by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation has said his group is looking for the right time and the right court to remove all religious monuments. He calls them “offensive and unconstitutional.”
A coalition involving the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), Liberty Legal Institute (LLI) and the American Legion aims to put an end to such affronts.
"We have approximately a thousand attorneys nationwide who are offering free legal representation to any town, municipality that has a legal challenge brought to tear down one of these memorials," explained Douglas Napier with ADF.
The groups will fight challenges to memorials in courts and also press for federal legislation. The Legion will ask members of 14,000 posts across the U.S. to identify every veterans memorial.
“We’ve got a Web site that we’re going to have them register all the veterans memorials across the country so we have a catalog of them," Tom Bock, past national commander, Tom Bock told Family News in Focus.
The registry makes it easier for the groups to keep an eye out for legal challenges to religious symbols. Hiram Sasser, LLI's director of litigation, said it’s the least they can do to protect the memory of those who fought and died for freedom.
“To dishonor their service and dishonor their courage and valor by tearing down their memorials," he said, "is absolutely disgraceful.”
