In light of Veteran’s Day, Americans would do well to take stock of what exactly the men and women of the US armed forces fought and died for. For if we do not, philosophical forces in certain ways as dangerous as any army faced on the field of battle will end up reeking considerable moral havoc across the face of this great land.

According to Religion Today, the National Park Service plans to remove a monument in the Mojave National Preserve dedicated to veterans of World War I because it contains a cross which offended a former employee and the usual you-know-whos, that of course being the local chapter of the ACLU.

Such an action should be considered an affront to both the foundations of this country as well as to those who gave their lives defending it.

In these days of heightened cultural sensitivities, isn’t the removal of the cross itself an act of the utmost insensitivity? Since the religious affiliation of the majority of Americans is some brand of Christianity, why wouldn’t it be appropriate to commemorate the sacrificial death of Christians with a cross?

After all, things have gotten so out of hand at the Smithsonian Institution that only American Indians are permitted to touch certain artifacts since to do otherwise would be sacrilege according to Indian belief. And one couldn’t find a story regarding the recent bicentennial of the White House without a significant account harping on the role played by slaves in its construction.

But perhaps more importantly, the removal of the cross in the Mojave is an attack on the very character of the United States of America and sets a very disturbing precedent. For where will it end? Do we abolish all memorials, artifacts, and exhibits from the nation’s parklands, battlefields, and museums reminding us of our Christian heritage?

Don’t laugh. Already preservationists won a battle to demolish a tower on private land in Gettysburg because the structure did not measure up to some arbitrary aesthetic standard. Whose to say the same fate won’t befall the Jefferson Memorial, the U.S. Capitol, or other masterpieces of Western art depicting religious themes hanging in public museums when these treasures someday come to offend agnostic sensibilities.

To advocate the abolition of America’s religious heritage is to misunderstand the significant conflicts characterizing the twentieth century.

Many historians argue that World War I shattered the illusion that man was making steady progress towards a utopian society existing apart from the need for God. Sadly, World War I was not the war to end all wars nor did it make the world safe for democracy as was promised. The heartache to follow a few decades later in the form of World War II and the other ensuing tragedies of our era serve as reminders of the failure to learn from these kinds of historic events.

Nikita Khrushev once beat his shoe on the podium of the United Nations and thundered the Soviet Union would bury us. Now both Communism and its sister Fascism lie struggling for life in history’s intensive care unit. If American follows a similar course of expelling God and His standards from our society, the United States will join its former adversaries in the graveyard of declining empires and dying civilizations.

Copyright © 2000 by Frederick Meekins .
All Rights Reserved.

-Published with permission