Faith and Action Weighs In on Desert Cross
As a Christian mission to government officials, Faith and Action rarely engages in legal work, but when there is no alternative our organization does whatever is necessary. That’s the case with the current controversy over a World War I memorial in a National Park preserve in the Mojave Desert.The memorial was erected in 1934 by the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) to memorialize a group of veterans who suffered from deadly Spanish flu and post traumatic stress disorder, or what was then called “shell shock.”
- At the National Press Club: Rob Schenck talks with leaders of top veterans’ groups about the upcoming Supreme Court case on the Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross.
No one complained about the cross until 2001 when the ACLU sued the National Park Service demanding the cross be torn down because, in their opinion, it violates the so-called “separation of church and state.” A federal judge agreed and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the decision. In February the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
Immediately after the Ninth Circuit decision against the cross, the Park Service was ordered to cover it with a wooden box.
Faith and Action president Rev. Rob Schenck and chief of program Peggy Neinaber participated in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Leaders of the largest veterans’ organization in America spoke in support of the memorial cross as a “symbol of the sacrifice made to secure our freedoms by soldiers, sailors and airmen.”
- Rob talked to the long-time caretakers of the memorial, Henry and Wanda Sandoz
For his regular daily Check-In video, Rob Schenck spoke with lead attorney Kelly Schackelford of the Liberty Legal Institute who authored a brief on behalf of the veterans. Faith and Action will submit its own brief in the case at the end of this month. Rob also talked to the long-time caretakers of the memorial, Henry and Wanda Sandoz. Henry Sandoz made a regular 320-mile round trip from their home to maintain and repair the memorial cross.
“The ACLU has created a complete fiction about this cross,” Rob Schenck told the veteran leaders today. “There is no record of multiple complaints or people changing their religion because of this cross. It’s a simple symbol to remember brave men and women. The ACLU made up its story and picked one person to go along with it and complain. It’s dangerous when courts employ the coercive power of government to support something that’s not real or true.”
For more information on the Mojave Desert War Memorial visit www.DontTearMeDown.com.
Click for a special video conversation between Rev. Rob Schenck and Kelly Shackelford from the National Press Club.
