Supreme Court comes to the Desert

Remember in U.S. History in high school when you'd study important Supreme Court cases and they would always start in some random town in the middle of nowhere? Today an important decision was announced by the Supreme Court after years of controversy, and it started here, in the Mojave Desert!  Moreover, it will most likely be a benchmark case that is referred to in the future when the issue of the separation of church and state arises.

Today the Supreme Court ruled that the Mojave Cross, a 6-foot cross erected in 1934 by the VFW to commemorate war casualties, can remain standing. The issue at hand was that the cross is now located in the Mojave National Preserve - government land. Unless you live in 29 Palms you've probably never seen this cross, but it's in the Preserve, which surrounds the desolate, two lane road to Vegas . The argument against the cross was obviously that it supported only Christian troops and did not support other religions, and that it was also a violation of the separation of church and state. The argument for, as was ruled, was that "The Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society." It's been a huge topic of conversation around here and the cross has been covered up for several months, but now gets to be uncovered.

Kind of a random post, I know, but it made me think about a few things. First, we live in the Mojave. And no one pretty much ever comes out here. So the fact that a case about something that seemed so obscure made it all the way to the Supreme Court - and on top of that made it to the front of the news today - is a big deal. Second, I was interested that the reports on this case didn't mention its cultural context - thousands of Marines who move out here in the middle of the desert and still fight for their lives every day in combat zones (and have been, since the cross was put up). For some reason (even though I don't think it should be the case, but it is), war memorials are more tolerated in areas near military bases, and I'm just surprised no reporter brought that up. Third, also from a military standpoint, crosses have historically simply been signs of respect and remembrance for fallen soldiers, regardless of religion. This is especially the case in remembrance of earlier wars - think the Normandy cemetery. When you couple that with the fact that this cross was erected in 1934, it seems clear to me that the cross was NOT put up to offend any non-Christian troops (nor as a violation of church and state, since the Mojave Preserve didn't exist then). And finally, on the topic of the military/religion relationship, I have a huge amount of respect for military chaplains, who, regardless of their religious background, travel back and forth across the front lines to provide spiritual support and counseling for soldiers, sailors, and Marines. Regardless of their religion, I feel that they provide integral support for every person out there. And yes, many (most actually) of them wear crosses. But that is not a rebuff to anyone else.  And while it could be argued that is somehow blending church and state, I think you would be hard pressed to find a deployed troop who'd say that they'd rather their unit not to have a chaplain with them.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Just thought I'd share this case with you, because it hits close to home, quite literally!