Coram Deo

A small white cross is sparking a big battle over church-state separatism in Searcy, AK, where the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is demanding that a local police chief remove the religious symbol from public property.

 

The cross was planted in the ground outside the Searcy Police Department before Police Chief Jeremy Clark started in his current position last year.  Clark told KARK-TV that he had no idea how it got there, but that he has no plans to remove it, despite the Wisconsin-based atheist group’s prodding.  “Someone put it there.  I didn’t put it there.  I don’t know who did.  I wasn’t going to remove it just because this organization in another state told us that we should,” he said of the FFRC’s efforts.  “We’re here serving the citizens of Searcy, and I don’t feel like we’ve done anything to offend them.”

 

But the atheist organization — known for waging similar battles across the nation over perceived violations of the separation of church and state — is arguing that, by leaving the cross in place, the police department is showing government endorsement of religion.  “It’s such a simple remedy.  All they (Searcy) have to do is remove the cross; and if the police chief is partial to it, he can put it on his own lawn,” FFRC Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor told KARK-TV.

 

Former Police Chief Kyle Osborne, who retired last year, told The Daily Citizen that the cross was placed on the property in 2011 after being made by members of the St. Paul United Methodist Church.  “The St. Paul guys passed those out all over town and you still see them all the time,” he said.  “One day an officer asked me about putting it out there and I said it was OK.  If it was up to me, I’d absolutely keep that cross up.”

 

Police Chief Clark also argued that the cross is outside his private entrance and that he is the only person who sees it daily.

 

FFRC has pledged to continue pushing for the symbol’s removal.  With neither side willing to back down, it will be intriguing to see where the cross battle ends up.

 

The reformer, Martin Luther, said that “when the cross is abolished, and the rage of tyrants and heretics ceases on the one side, and all things are in peace, this is a sure token that the pure doctrine of God’s Word is taken away.”  The world’s hatred is sometimes a sign that we are being faithful to Scripture … provided the world detests us due to the message we preach, not because we are obnoxious.  If we meet no worldly opposition, it may mean we are not being true to the offense of the cross.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel