Does It Really Represent Them?

aclu, war, memorial, vietnam, christian, atheism, atheist, jesus, cross, soldiers, honor, memorial

The ACLU is the ultimate boogeyman for conservatives of all stripes, but no one hates the ACLU more than fundys. The ACLU is, to them, the army of darkness attempting to stamp Christianity out entirely, through the clever removal of religious displays on public property. (You just can't believe unless everyone else does, too, apparently.)

Normally I ignore this whingeing from the fundys, because it's asinine, but this case pissed me off.

You see, there is a large war memorial out in the Mojave Desert. I have no problem with war memorials or honoring the sacrifices of soldiers, but that's not what this is about. The war memorial is a giant cross. That's it. A really big, white cross on a hill.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for TMLC, said, “Through our brief and the compelling stories of the war heroes we represent, we want the court to feel the devastating impact removing crosses will have on those who have sacrificed so much for this country.”
“Since the beginning of America,” Mr. Thompson continued, “crosses have been used to memorialize our fallen war veterans and to give solace to their families and comrades.

Ironically, the Ninth Circuit used the very constitution these veterans defended with their lives to order the destruction of the memory of their heroic sacrifices. Sadly, the cross in the Mojave Desert is currently covered from view until the appeal is resolved.”

Who does a cross honor? It's not soldiers. A cross honors Jesus. One might make the argument that a cross honors Christian soldiers, but I'm not sure I accept that. Even assuming a giant cross honors Christian soldiers, are all US soldiers- and surely you agree that all US soldiers deserve honoring- Christian? No. So, what about those other soldiers? Why should we exclude them from war memorials? Why shouldn't they be honored?

The reason this pisses me off is the picture above. That woman is hugging the grave of her son, a US soldier who died in combat. He was a US soldier, and a Muslim. She's hugging the grave because that's all she has left of her son. Is her son's sacrifice less because he wasn't Christian? Is her suffering less because her dead son wasn't Christian? Should we honor her dead son's- and all the other nonchristians- sacrifice less because he wasn't Christian?

No. We should honor all the soldiers, and all their families. We should not exclude the atheists and the Mulisms and the Jews and all the rest. Their sacrifice means as much as anyone else's. We don't need to praise Jesus to remember our falllen soldiers. The Vietnam War Memorial is a beautiful, secular tribute to those who died in the Vietnam War. It acknowledges everyone equally, and excludes no one. That's what we should be supporting for our fallen soldiers. Jesus has plenty of tributes already, he doesn't need another at the expense of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us.