Salt Lake City, USA - Does a cross alongside a Utah highway bearing the name of a fallen Highway Patrol trooper symbolize Christianity? Or is it a secular memorial and a warning to drivers to slow down?
U.S. District Judge David Sam promised to decide the issue soon, after hearing arguments Tuesday in his Salt Lake City courtroom. The Utah Highway Patrol Association asked him to rule that placing crosses on government land does not violate the First Amendment, which forbids government establishment of religion.
To American Atheists Inc., the crosses are unconstitutional. The Texas-based group filed suit in 2005 seeking their removal.
The organization's attorney, Brian Barnard, argued that the crosses - which he describes as Roman crosses - represent the death of Jesus Christ, making them religious symbols that have no place on government land.
Thomas Roberts, an assistant Utah attorney general, countered that the crosses are secular symbols that memorialize the sacrifice of 14 deceased troopers and tell the traveling public to drive safely. He used a photograph of a telephone pole to argue that the cross is not religious in many contexts.
Roberts also pointed out that most of the deceased troopers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which does not use the cross in its services. As memorials, the
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crosses are symbols of death, he said.
The crosses, which were erected starting in 1998, are 12 feet high and bear the name of an officer who has died in the line of duty and the UHP insignia. Nine of the 13 crosses are on public land and all are placed near where the troopers lost their lives.
The idea for the crosses came from Robert Kirby, a columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune and a former police officer. He worked with Lee Perry, president of the private nonprofit Utah Highway Patrol Association, to get the project started.
The association is the only group allowed by the state Department of Transportation to erect memorials along the highways, according to Barnard.
Byron Babione, an attorney for the association, said no other group has asked to set up a different kind of memorial to troopers. He said that on request, the association would accommodate another symbol, such as a Star of David for a Jewish trooper.
Barnard argued the fact that another symbol would be allowed is an acknowledgment that the Roman cross is not a universal symbol of death.
He said there is no question that Highway Patrol officers should be honored, but that the memorial should not violate the Constitution.