War Against The Cross

[cmotherofpirl]

Hans Zeiger

War Against the Cross

By Hans Zeiger

Aug 28, 2003, 00:07

If the “illegal” Ten Commandments are not the symbol of Western Civilization and morality, the Cross of Jesus Christ is. It too is considered a dangerous figure in public and in private. Recent attacks on the cross have been channeled through city councils and churches alike.

First, the City of Ventura, California is under fire for displaying an historic cross that was erected 221years ago by the missionary-explorer Junipero Serra. Serra established the San Buenaventura Mission in 1782, naming it and Ventura after the Franciscan Priest St. Bonaventure. Today, Serra’s mission is a registered state landmark.

A group of three atheists called the Freethinkers of Ventura became offended by the historical cross and threatened to file a lawsuit against the city. Last week, the Ventura City Council voted to sell the cross along with an acre of land around it. On September 22, the city will accept bids to purchase the cross.

Unsurprisingly, there is discussion amongst anti-Christian interest groups in the city to purchase the cross and to remove it from public view or destroy it. City council members who are opposed to dismantling the cross are considering selling the icon conditionally to someone who will maintain it with respect and reverence. “I would rather fight it in court than sell it under those conditions [to someone who would destroy the cross],” said City Councilman Jim Monahan.

And it appears that such a court battle is approaching. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the California First Amendment Coalition have threatened a lawsuit on behalf of potential cross-destroyers if the city blocks their bids.

To make matters worse, the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) held a conference in New York last week to promote the removal of crosses from Christian Churches. ACLC was founded by the cultic Rev. Sun Myung Moon to eliminate barriers between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Earlier this year, ACLC reported that over 285 Christian clergy “directly affirmed the taking down of the cross” and 123 churches have removed crosses so far this year.

Sounds like something you’d hear glorified at a meeting of the Freethinkers of Ventura rather than a gathering of “Christian” leaders. According to the Apostle Paul, both the atheists and the ACLC are equally misguided: “The message of the Cross is foolishness to the perishing, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.”

Archbishop George Augustus Stallings of the Imani Temple African-American Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. exclaimed, “We have realized that, as expressions of faith, there are certain symbols that have stood in the way. The cross has served as a barrier in bringing about a true spirit of reconciliation between Muslims and Christians, and thus we have sought to remove the cross from our Christian churches across America as a sign of our willingness to remove any barrier that stands in the way of us coming together as a people of faith.”

Contrary to the word of Archbishop Stallings, the Word of God says that the Cross is unifying. “[Christ] has broken down the middle wall of separation . . . that He might reconcile [Jews and Gentiles] to God in one body through the Cross, thereby putting to death the division.”

And if Archbishop Stallings himself was a “person of faith,” he might have defended the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself said, “He who does not take his Cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Instead, Stallings said the history of the Cross is one of “religious intolerance, forced conversions, inquisitions and even racism used by white supremacists.”

It is true that the unreformed church has been corrupt and evil. But the heinous abuses of Christendom have consistently occurred when the church has forgotten the essential Cross of Christ, not when it exalted the cross.

Rev. Phillip Schanker of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification told the ACLC conference that churches must do more than remove crosses. Schanker said they must overcome “the religious arrogance, the religious chauvinism, the narrow-mindedness, the judgmentalism that often comes from insecurity.”

I don’t dispute that the Cross has much to do with murder and sin and intolerance and hatred. Those hideous parts of our nature were the driving force that nailed Jesus to the Cross and that made His suffering all the worse. Thus the Cross has much to do with grace, because there on the Cross, Jesus Christ the Lord was sacrificed for all of the sorrow and shame that ever was. There on the cross is all of the justice that is demanded by an eternal God, and all of the mercy that is needed by a dying people.

The Ten Commandments are gone in Montgomery, but we can’t give up. Its time for the Law and the Cross to be restored in America.

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Hans Zeiger is a Seattle Times columnist and conservative activist. As an 18 year old Eagle Scout, he is president of the Scout Honor Coalition and a student at Hillsdale College in Michigan. He can be contacted at hanszeiger@yahoo.com.

[Luke2219]

Of course the ten commandments monument should be put in the closet. After all, religion has nothing to do with our public lives. It should be expressed only in our homes and our churches and we must make sure that no one knows what we are doing. We should all keep our religion in our closet. Any why not take down the crosses? Most of us have already taken Christ off of the cross. My own parish has the crucifix over the alter with a risen Christ and not a crucified Christ. This is an age of tolerance. I'm okay, you're okay, let's just all get along. That's okay sweetheart, you don't have to belive in God, do whatever you feel is right, just go to hell whenever you want to, that's just fine. UGH! Leave the ten commandments were they were! The ten commandments have been in the supreme court for years and haven't established a religion in this country. No one is forced to practice any religion because 'under God' is in the pledge or on our money. This is silliness! This is not freedom of religion, it is oppresion of religion! Anyone with religion now can't serve as a judge. Now we want to take down all the crosses?! How about taking down all the billboards for strip clubs and underwear and beer with half dressed people on them? How about taking out all the porn on the internet, on tv, on cable, in hotels? How about taking out all the soft porn that is on regular televion and in movies and commercials? THAT IS WHAT IS OFFENSIVE! But no no, we can't take that down. It's free speech. The only people who can't have free speech are the Christians. Bigotry against Christians is the only allowable discrimination. If you're offended by the cross, then tough. You have a right to pursue happiness, not to be happy. The governmet does not have to make sure that every citizen is happy. Some things offend me, and that's too bad for me. I can't go around demanding that everything that offends me be taken away. Forcing people to take down crosses from churchs is unconstitutional and churchs doing it voluntarily is even sillier.

I know my ranting and sarcasim serves no other purpose but to let me blow off steam. Thanks for letting me do so. I hope my next post will have more fruitful comments.

[dUSt]

Personally, I'd like there to be more separation of church and state. But that's just me.

[Luke2219]

Why would you want that? You deserve the benefit of the doubt, but that position seems untenable to me. Please explain.

[kdewolf2]

Personally, I don't care much for the idea of separation between church and state. It is, first of all, not in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson, the Deist who edited all of the miracles out of the gospels, came up with that one. I think it would be great to see Americans convert to the true Faith en masse, the president proclaim himself "defender of the faith," the Constitution re-written to make it clear that Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, etc. In our present situation, I suppose we should just vote like Catholics and tell people about our faith. And we should definitely not take the crosses out of our churches. Without the cross, our faith is meaningless.