The US Supreme Court Case Salazar vs. Buono involves a cross erected in 1934 on federal land as a memorial to war dead. Until recently, few people even knew the cross existed, but now someone is challenging that it doesn't belong on federal land.
Justice Scalia's opinion on the matter, reported here by David Lancaster, includes the following: "I don't think you can leap from that (the assertion that the cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians) to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion."
My issue isn't even about whether or not he's correct. My issue is it ultimately has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
I highly doubt the erectors of that cross were even thinking of the religions of the dead they wished to honor. After all, the vast majority of Americans were Christians, and we weren't yet very good at acknowledging diversity. They didn't erect the cross because of the religion of the dead. The erected it because of their own religion. Their primary purpose may certainly have been to memorialize the dead, but they nevertheless did it with a symbol that assuredly had religious ramifications for them personally.
I find it even more concerning that Scalia quipped, "What would you have them erect? A cross -- some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Moslem half moon and star?"
Um, no. That's not solving the problem in the least. If anything, it's just complicating the problem. Does Scalia even comprehend what is concerning people here?
Scalia doesn’t seem to comprehend very much. He recently lamented the fact that too many smart people are becoming lawyers. I am not making this up. You can read about it in the Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/10/01/scalia-we-are-devoting-too-many-of-our-best-minds-to-lawyering/
I have a big issue with this cross on federal land.
As the constitution stipulates separation of church and state, the state should not allow any religious symbol on federal land. And the US Supreme Court, should uphold this separation.
Whatever the original purpose of erecting the cross, it is a religious symbol and thus does not belong on a public land.