Giant Illinois cross going to court

Giant Illinois cross going to court

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Published on May 28th, 2010, 11:37 am
Rift: Religion

A ginormous cross in Illinois is becoming the latest subject in the ever-present battle to keep the government from supporting religion.

I saw that the cross has been around for a long time -- since the 1950's. It was built using private donations, which is cool. But after all these years, it has fallen into disrepair (apparently, God himself didn't add any protection for it), so folks went looking for funds to get it back to like-new condition. Which is where the problem starts.

It seems that the state legislature has provided 20 grand to help repair this private religious symbol. Apparently, they think it's a valid expense, as the cross is a "tourist attraction." An atheist activist from Chicago objects to the state government providing this aid (I wonder why aid is needed... surely some mega-churches and GAWD-channel execs would love to help out... no?), so he's suing to get that budget item revoked.

Fun will surely ensue as this slurps its way through court(s). :shifty:

I've got the answer! Remove the cross section, make it just an I instead of a T then cover it in reflective panels and plumb a fountain at the time. Build a underground secret base and tada....

Hey, I live about 10 miles from the cross and have visited it many times over the 25 years i have lived in the area. You dont hear much about it except for the occational tourist asking for directions. The athiest jew bastard from chicago should worry more about chicago and less about the southern counties. Anyone who's been south of chester knows that its a whole different state down here. You will get your a$$ kicked for F*cking with someones cross :twisted:

. In conclusion, fix the cross. Its a great place for a picnic...

oxDIXIExo wrote:Hey, I live about 10 miles from the cross and have visited it many times over the 25 years i have lived in the area. You dont hear much about it except for the occational tourist asking for directions. The athiest jew bastard from chicago should worry more about chicago and less about the southern counties. Anyone who's been south of chester knows that its a whole different state down here. You will get your a$$ kicked for F*cking with someones cross . In conclusion, fix the cross. Its a great place for a picnic...

No one objects to the cross being fixed, the objection is to the cross being fixed with govt money. It is his problem to worry about (and should be yours too) because once you open the door to this, you set precedence for other religious spending by govt. How would you feel to an giant Islamic icon like the crescent and star paid for by your tax dollars? I'm sure if you go to Iran you'd get your ass kicked (at best) with messing with someone's star and crescent.

oxDIXIExo wrote:athiest jew bastard

Somewhat of an oxymoron.

A Person wrote:
oxDIXIExo wrote:athiest jew bastard

Somewhat of an oxymoron.

From a typical moron, to boot. :confusion-scratchheadblue:

A Person wrote:
oxDIXIExo wrote:athiest jew bastard

Somewhat of an oxymoron.

Not really. Many consider themselves Jewish via the bloodline... not because of religious practices. But... I know what you are trying to say.

Would you describe Dawkins as a Christian atheist?

There is an old story about a man stopped by two armed men in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. "Are you Catholic or Protestant?" they asked. "I'm an atheist" he answered. "Would that be a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?"

What separates this cross from being repaired by government money and say, Egypt's government maintaining the pyramids? Clearly we wouldn't argue that the pyramids not be taking care of. Is modern symbols of Christianity simply worth less in our society's interpretation?

Liv wrote:What separates this cross from being repaired by government money and say, Egypt's government maintaining the pyramids? Clearly we wouldn't argue that the pyramids not be taking care of. Is modern symbols of Christianity simply worth less in our society's interpretation?

Not worth less but attacked more often.

Liv wrote:What separates this cross from being repaired by government money and say, Egypt's government maintaining the pyramids? Clearly we wouldn't argue that the pyramids not be taking care of. Is modern symbols of Christianity simply worth less in our society's interpretation?

Seriously?

Sanjuro wrote:Seriously?

There is an argument here. Christianity isn't some piddly cult... it's a massive part of this planets history.

I believe in this case the argument is this cross isn't magnificent enough. It's easily fixed, made, built, etc...

Liv wrote:
Sanjuro wrote:Seriously?

There is an argument here. Christianity isn't some piddly cult... it's a massive part of this planets history.

I believe in this case the argument is this cross isn't magnificent enough. It's easily fixed, made, built, etc...

No there really isn't. A cross built on a hill out of tiles in the 50's in no way is as historically significant as archeological sites like Giza and all that implies.

Liv wrote:What separates this cross from being repaired by government money and say, Egypt's government maintaining the pyramids?

1) The pyramids are archeological treasures from the ancient past
2) Whatever religious group may have used them for religious purposes, they are no longer around to use them any more, so there's no one else who could take responsibility

Clearly we wouldn't argue that the pyramids not be taking care of. Is modern symbols of Christianity simply worth less in our society's interpretation?

Certainly, Gothic cathedrals are a far cry from a tacky metal-and-glass cross built in the middle of nowhere. Plus -- there is a whole population of people out there who appear to see this as part of their religious lives... let THEM put their money where their prayers are, and not look to the government for hand-outs.

It's the same reason that this is a historical building

and this isn't