Aug 7, 2012
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A flowerbed shaped like a cross was removed from a park in Columbus, Ga. after non-Christians raised concerns and the city’s mayor determined that the cross violated the law.
“We had some complaints from other citizens not of the Christian faith,” Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson told Fox News.
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The Windsor Park Homeowners Association was responsible for upkeep of the flowerbed and at the request of city officials they removed the two arms. Now, the cross is shaped like a rectangle – and conforms to federal law.
“They actually physically reformed the Christian cross into the rectangular flower bed,” the mayor said. But they did so only after the city told them the cross was no longer welcome in the public park.
The flowerbed had been a part of the Lake Heath Park for decades. Large stones had been positioned to form the outline of the cross.
But Mayor Tomlinson said the symbol ran afoul of a 1983 federal court ruling that she said banned Christian crosses from public land. She cited a court case involving a 50-foot lighted cross in Rabun County, Ga. That particular cross had been a part of the community for 40 years, she said – until someone complained.
“A Christian cross or a symbol of any particular faith could not permanently rest in a park,” she said “So we had to abide by the applicable law.”
ALSO READ: TOWN FORCED TO REMOVE CROSS FROM LOGO. CLICK HERE.
According to local media accounts, a number of citizens are upset over the removal.
“The satisfactory resolution is that the cross is there,” resident George Wade told television station WTVM. He was one of many people to attend a recent city council meeting to demand the cross be restored.
“The councilmen are beginning to understand the urgency that needs to be addressed because the people are concerned about this,” he told the television station.
But that’s not going to happen.
Columbus is home to Fort Benning and the area is home to a number of military retirees, the mayor said.
“We have a lot of military retirees of the Jewish faith and other faiths wearing the uniform,” the mayor said. “We’ve had a lot of those individuals come forward talking about the fact that a lot of blood has been shed to make certain that our public institutions are open to people of all faiths, of all races, of all genders.”
Tomlinson did not dispute the notion that many of her constituents might disagree with the decision to remove the cross.
“Whenever we have a tradition that begins to fade, that’s always something that becomes very emotional for people,” she said.
She did say the city would allow Christians to hold Easter Sunrise services at the park – and the neighborhood association would be allowed to plant seasonal flowers in the bed – like Easter lilies.
“People understand the public sector aspect of having to guarantee free access so that everybody feels welcome in our public facilities – whether it be a park or a building,” she said.
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They should make a religion where their symbol is a rectangle THEN what are you going to do?
Quite frankly this issue has no comparison to the crime being currently perpetrated in our schools and with which all decent Americans should not only be protesting, but putting on their do or die agenda. That includes the issue of teaching Darwin based theory as the only explanation of life on this planet, let alone the making of the planet itself! I want to see cold hard FACTS, not suppositions or theories as to why the planet is here and as to how people arrived/evolved either. Darwinism is merely a THEORY! It has NEVER BEEN PROVEN (although Liberal/Socialist go to any extreme to make you think otherwise) and all supposed 'facts’ trying to liken evolution of man to Darwi’s theory have all eventually been debunked as frauds, clever or not, by future scientific research. So where are the FACTS of evolution of man? I really want to see them. The supposition that man can evolve from a single cell organism, to a multi-cell life forms through the process of random mutation and then natural selection on it's own is pure fiction at it's very worst! The fact that NO scientist has EVER proven one iota of this poppycock, but yet this 'Liberal Religion' is allowed to be the ONLY theory of creation in our schools is simply ludicrous! Darwin's Theory is NOT LAW! It quite simply has NEVER. and I repeat NEVER, BEEN PROVEN, even after over 150 years of liberals trying, cheating, forging and forcing it upon the general population through simply using our liberal courts, and later the pressure of lawsuits to bankrupt any schools trying to even think of teaching any other theory as a possibility, is the shame of this country and the bane of the education process period! You don't have to believe in God to see that the theory of Evolution is simply not possible according to this theory (and this according to the new sciences of Genetics and Biochemistry to boot) and one of the most criminal perpetration's upon our society since the dark ages attempt to reform science. To even suggest this theory is somewhat flawed, costs many brilliant and honest scientists their jobs, careers and lives by the Liberal cesspool that has come to run our country. It is no more justifiable then handing out condoms to kids against the wishes of parents, and telling them they cannot get AIDS and are protected from STD's since they are going to have sex anyway! The ONLY way to avoid AIDS and STD S is to simply abstain from heterosexual sex, questionable drug use or tainted blood (which only account for about 10% of AIDS, the rest being through Homosexual, sex but it isn’t PC to tell Homosexuals that as it might ‘hurt’ their feelings to hear the truth which simply makes them feel justified in calling all heterosexuals the Bain of existence). And statistics prove that teenage sex has INCREASED by the free handing out of condoms, far to open/illustrative and diverse sexual social education of our VERY young people, which to kid, who simply are not mature enough to know the difference, is equivalent to saying go for it! And it is not even honest? Do our teachers who teach this lie to our kids use condoms as THEIR means of avoiding AIDS or other STD’S? Sex today can KILL but they aren’t telling our children that. We adults have all made adjustments in our sexual habits because of this fact, but yet we continue to allow the government and special interests to teach these lies and degenerative behaviors to our children? Not only that, but now younger and younger girls are feeling pressured to have sex due to these outrageous policies, by more mature and as we all know, more sexually savvy, young men who operate through misinformation and cajoling simply due to their hormones predisposition to 'stick' it to anyone they can! (and men I KNOW you know what I am saying, but we anti feminazis, or majority of real women in this society, love you anyway bless your hearts, at least most of you) And by the time these young girls wake up to the facts, they are generally, pregnant, their lives are ruined to an extent and the only answer they have except for pure humiliation when they realize they have been so stupidly, innocently duped, is free abortion which they can get without their parents even knowing and so they are never really told the true and deadly concerns of having abortions or the fact that they can not only reduce the chance of future pregnancies, but actually kill you as well. With these important issues being absolutely ignored in general instead of parents and society as a whole standing up and DEMANDING the changes away from these failed policies, we are worried about a cross shaped flower garden? Let us first concentrate on the REAL issues, those concerning the future of our children and society as a whole, and worry about flower gardens last, please? It is time to stand together on clear issues that need to be changed , exposed and defeated from our laws and policies, and which we in all honesty you must admit, are tired of being rammed down our throats by the minority special interest groups, politicians and companies that profit from these issues and the politicians that keep them in place as they either own stock in the companies or will benefit from them through future jobs when the people who elected them finally realize they are not who they thought they were voting in and replace them! Wake up America? How long are we going to stand for this nonsense and let them distract us with minor issues such as cross shaped flower beds of all things? Where are our true civic or religious leaders that should be leading the masses to defeat these travesties? They are all getting rich off our hard working backs, spending OUR money as THEY see fit (generally to benefit their own careers and not the people they have pledged to serve) driving expensive fancy cars, living in nice moderate or luxury homes, all while supposedly doing what is best for us, yet these themes NEVER CHANGE? Who exactly IS in charge of this country? Fake Political, social/civic, religious leaders afraid to lose the comfort they have accumulated? or the actually workers/taxpayers of this country that are working themselves to death while seeing their own profits and rights reduced at a more alarming pace every day? When are we going to address the REAL issues in this country? When are we truly going to not just demand change, but sink our teeth into, the effort and not let go until we see absolutely positive results such as policy and legal changes in our daily lives. Until the world that we live in and support returns to something even remotely resembling sanity and not PC driven policies and laws BOUGHT by special interests groups in this country? THAT is the issue here people. Not flower beds! It breaks my heart every time I read a story like Chick-fil-a or the baker that refuses to make homosexual wedding cakes on Religious, and legal grounds, see the strength of the national community majority file up behind them in support, and yet fail to raise a consolidated voice and stance on the more real issues we face today. Don’t get me wrong, we SHOULD back the Chick-fil-a’s and independent, contentious businessmen, but even more impotently, we should be destroying these very policies and laws that are allowing the situations such as Chick-fil-a to even be brought up in the first place!
Evolution, with it working mechanism natural selection, is supported by a massive body of evidence making it a fact. Moreover, the later later discovery of DNA validated the evolutionary tree of life in its entirety, making evolution an undeniable fact. Can you tell me the working mechanism behind creationism and give me just one scientific application derived from it? Just one? If creationism was taught in the classroom, it would consist of, "So you see children, god did it". Not much to write in a text book is there. Finally, you don't know what a scientific theory is. Scientific theories must be: consistent, parsimonious, correctable, empirically testable/verifiable, useful, and progressive. They must also survive the test of time.
@tim, excellent response. Do you know why they stopped teaching creationism? Most people wanna blame Congress, liberals…these people are morons. In the 1950s, Russia launched Sputnik, and our government had to reflect, how did they beat us? They beat us because instead of teaching science and math, we were teaching that an imaginary magic man in the sky does it all!! That is when schools chose education over faith based teaching. You want to not educate your kids like Esmeralda, home school em. But don't pretend evolution isn't real, that's just nonsense.
@tim, excellent response. Do you know why they stopped teaching creationism? Most people wanna blame Congress, liberals…these people are morons. In the 1950s, Russia launched Sputnik, and our government had to reflect, how did they beat us? They beat us because instead of teaching science and math, we were teaching that an imaginary magic man in the sky does it all!! That is when schools chose education over faith based teaching. You want to not educate your kids like Esmeralda, home school em. But don't pretend evolution isn't real, that's just nonsense.
They'll probably replace it with a floral mosaic showing Mohammed on his wedding night with a 9 year old bride.
When will it be that crosses on our necks offended people.What happens then, believe me I will not take off mine. Leave the crosses alone. They were there before it became political correct. pam
When will it be that crosses on our necks offended people.What happens then, believe me I will not take off mine. Leave the crosses alone. They were there before it became political correct. pam
That's protected under free speech. Crosses on public land are a violation of the separation of church and state.
True story. There once was a man who claimed to be an agnostic. One night, while it lay dark, he decided to go for a swim at the public swimming pool. Even though there were no lifeguards on duty and the pool had already closed, he decided to climb the fence for a night time swim. How could he pass up an opportunity to swim under the beautiful moonlit sky? After all, it had been a hard day at work and the heat of the day was now a cool breeze. As he positioned himself upon the end of the high diving board with arms outstretched to his side, he noticed that his shadow had made the shape of a cross in the pool below. " That's odd ", he said to himself. That has never happened before. He took a few steps back and proceeded to dive into the pool. Once again he stopped at the edge of the diving board. At that point he climbed down the ladder and approached the pool. To his dismay, the pool was EMPTY! It had been drained for maintenance earlier that day. Suddenly he realized that the image the cross in the bottom of the pool had saved his life!
If the image in the bottom of the empty pool had been a square, would that have been proof that god doesn't exist? Is it more likely that god ignores starving children in Africa but suspends the laws of nature is this man's favor, or that you are prone to wishful thinking? When you have two competing hypothesizes, the one that makes the fewer assumptions is most probably the correct one. Here the god hypothesis is infinitely more complex than the banality of pareidolia.
And? That's a nice story but so are fairy tales…
# cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…….
Wow! I wonder if Christians would feel outraged if it was a witch's pentagram or 666 or the star of david, the Islamic Crescent Moon and Star?
Yes, they would be very offended. They have been known to vandalize or steal when there are displays they don't like:
http://www.examiner.com/article/another-atheist-billboard-vandalized-ffrf-calls-it-a-hate-crime
http://ffrf.org/news/releases/jesus-myth-banner-stolen-from-illinois-park/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/lgbt-nativity-scene-vandalized-claremont.html
Is anybody looking into which "federal laws" govern the shape of flower beds, or is everyone just saying, "Oaky Doke"? As this flower bed was maintained by a homeowner's association – I fail to see where the public pays a penny to upkeep the "Free expression" of religion. If a flowerbed cannot exist in a public park because it is shaped like a cross (reminding all who see it of the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ payed for their own sins) WE MUST TAKE DOWN ALL WOODEN TELEPHONE POLES because they are shapped like croses too and they are on public land TOO!
Come-on People. Fight this thing. Sure its a small case, but it is yet another chip off the cornerstone of what made America great.
Regardless of your faith; deny GOD, he will deny YOU!
You write "regardless of your faith" , but that would imply that all regions are not mutually exclusive, which they are. The fact of the matter is if there is a god and you happen to be praying to the wrong one, then you will be in a bit of trouble when your days is done. Given that there are 4,700 active religions in today's day and age, simply due to the odds, we should all prepare for the worst.
Ugh! Get off your horse Larry.
Ugh! Get off your horse Larry.
So it didn't look like a cross until someone put stones around it? Or was it meant to be a cross? What's the story behind it? This "article" leaves a lot of questions.
I understand from news reports that most of the complning came from Mavis Middleton.
I understand from news reports that most of the complning came from Mavis Middleton.
they will feel more threaten when they meet the one that was on the cross and on there way to HELL FOR NOT ACCEPTING HIM FOR WHAT HE DID FOR THEM. there is no way out of hell when you reject JESUS!
Maybe we should remove the electric pole s as well they form a cross to hold the wires!
I do not see a real danger for our faith about this. Our focus should be to keep all the commandments. Democracy is good and bad. I am offended when I see the obelisk in Washington DC, it is an idol. I do not like to see Mosques where they teach jihad…kill all the Jews and all Christians…There is more to it than not allowing a cross. Yahoshua died on a Cross, but it is not the cross that saved us, but He, Yahoshua (Jesus) who gave His life for our sin. Yes, many things are wrong in the world, and when this freedom of having a cross is removed, it is only the beginning for more restrictions that lead to Marxism, and the country is on its way there, thanks to some people. Let us pray for a true revival and seek our Elohim (God) and let us pray for our protection and that of our children and future generations. Persecution has been prophesied, Yahoshua (Jesus) spoke about this. It is time to repent and go back to complete obedience, and His grace is sufficient for all of us to be able to obey Him. Shalom
This is absolutely ridiculous!
This WAS one of my favorite pretty towns to visit while going south for the winter. Too bad it has turned so ugly. Will have to skip it from now on. Shame on the mayor.