I guess you could say this is the first posting by a guest. It developed out of a Facebook conversation on the group page for this blog concerning the Searcy, Arkansas cross.
What I like about Robert's POV is it really highlights how so many of these semmingly "unrelated and innocuous" church/state cases are in fact related and part of a over reaching plan; it is not by "accident" that these challenges are appearing.
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Americans United for Separation of Church & State (AU) took up the cause of having the Cross Park cross in Frankenmuth, MI removed: Remove Cross from Public Land, Americans United Tells Officials in Michigan Town
That article is dated July 2012 and I have been advised by one Frankenmuth media contact that nothing further has happened in the case. It may be that none of the local Frankenmuth citizens were willing to be identified and proceed as plaintiffs in the litigation that might have otherwise followed, and so AU did not further pursue the matter.
Now comes the controversy over the little white cross on the lawn of the Searcy, AR police station: Group Wants Searcy Cross Removed, Police Chief Says "No". See extensive readers' comments there for discussion.
The first news article about the Searcy cross that I saw was at:
Cross stays up at Searcy Police Department
That article begins with: "In the City of Searcy, home of the state's largest private Christian university, Harding University,,," The Searcy cross appears to be a remnant of a program by local Searcy church members to demonstrate support for Frankenmuth citizens who had a number of cross issues in their community (i.e., crosses on bridges, crosses on city seal, and the big one, 55 feet tall, at Cross Park),
Building crosses
On January 16, 2014 the Freedom From Religion Foundation followed up on its interest in representing a local, Searcy citizen in the effort to have the cross removed from the Searcy police station lawn:
FFRF keeps pressing Searcy to remove illegal cross.
Will the cross be removed from the Searcy police department lawn?
Will other similar displays be allowed to be displayed there?
Will a Searcy resident come forward to act as plaintiff if there is litigation?
Will the FFRF back off?
Will the Searcy issue bring Frankenmuth back into the news and renew interest in pursuing its Cross Park cross issue?
Will interest in the Searcy cross bring attention to Harding University and its historic place in the FFRF v. IRS IRC 107 case and Judge Crabb's recent ruling that IRC 107 (which is exploited by Harding University employees, is UNconstitutional)?
We will see!
Judge Crabb ruled that IRC 107(2) is UNconstitutional in November of 2013 in the FFRF v. IRS IRC 107 case.
ReplyDeleteThe appeal period expires next week.
Will Obama's Justice Department appeal?
We'll know the answer soon.