Memorial Cross At Camp Pendleton Raises Objections

The Los Angeles Times last Monday reported on the latest controversy over religious symbols on public property-- this time a 13-foot cross erected by Marines at Camp Pendleton. The cross was put up on Veterans Day to honor four marines killed in combat in Iraq, as well as a more general memorial. Three of the four Marines were part of a group that had erected a cross on the same location in 2003 before deploying to Iraq. That earlier cross was destroyed in a brush fire in 2007.  The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers has protested the cross. The American Center for Law and Justice has sent a letter to the Marines defending the constitutionality of the cross as a historical and universal symbol of remembrance.  The Marine corps says that it is reviewing the issue, and that the cross was erected by private individuals acting solely in their personal capacities. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]