Close Menu
News & Commentaries
About Us
RSS
Contact
Cancel!
Privacy
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the party is always right.
George Orwell, he/his/him
Wokeistan
Wokeistan
Diversifying the Progressive Echo Chamber
ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER!
News & Commentaries
About Us
Cancel!
RSS
Contact
Open Menu
< Back to Page
Source (Friendly Atheist)
March 11, 2021

A Colorado Boy Scout Put Up an Illegal Christian Memorial in a Public Cemetery

Petrifying, unconstitutional mention of Jesus by a 16 year-old



Last October, at a cemetery in the town of Monument, Colorado a Boy Scout named Michael Carlson decided to honor veterans by installing a memorial marking their sacrifices. It was part of a project designed to earn Eagle Scout honors and required the help of local donors to foot the nearly $50,000 bill and the help of the city.

"Michael saw veterans were underrepresented here. He didn't go to the government and say 'Fix this'. He decided to fix it himself and asked the government to help. … His leadership and patriotism has bettered our community", Mayor Don Wilson said. The Town of Monument aided the project by removing the grass around the flagpole and digging up the land for the memorial.

So the city helped Michael install this monument on public property.

In general, there's nothing wrong with that, and the 16-year-old Michael deserves credit for getting it done. The problem is that the memorial was just an homage to Jesus.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One died for your soul, the other died for your freedom. We honor those who made freedom a reality.

Not only is that a lie, it's an obvious promotion of religion. The city might as well put up another monument giving a big middle finger to Jews, Muslims, and atheists.

Near that memorial, by the way, is the infamous image of a battlefield cross, which also links Christianity and patriotism.

Now the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is urging the city to get rid of the religious advertising. In a letter to Mayor Wilson sent on February 23, MRFF made it clear this was unconstitutional. It was also a problem because the memorial used imagery from the Armed Forces which aren't allowed to be used to promote any kind of religious beliefs.

Rather than file a lawsuit, MRFF warned the city about the problems, but also made it clear that a legal solution wasn't out of the question.

It is simply unconstitutional for your Town to be using taxpayer funds to promote any religious faith, as herein, Christianity.

The obviously and incontrovertibly sectarian, Christian proselytizing message of that Veterans Memorial would be absolutely fine in a private cemetery, but in a publicly maintained and controlled cemetery, as in this instant matter, it is quite unconstitutional and illegal.

MRFF's letter asked the mayor to respond in 7 days. That didn't happen. Weinstein told me yesterday a lawsuit is forthcoming.

It's also possible the town is making plans to avoid that possibility. According to the Colorado Springs Indy, Town Manager Mike Foreman says "We're working on that right now", regarding the complaint.

Whatever happens, it's incredible that in the two years Michael worked on this project, no one knew or had the heart to tell him he was making a huge mistake. There were so many ways to do this kind of project properly — on private property or without the overt religious promotion — that could have made it problem-free. Instead, everyone just assumed the blatant disrespect of non-Christian veterans would be perfectly fine. It says a lot about the community that they didn't see a problem with this until MRFF stepped in.
Newer News
Older News
Privacy
© Wokeistan.com 2020