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Stolen Sunrise Rock Cross Replacement-- Up Again, Down Again

By Howard M. Friedman

In a posting last night, updated this morning, I chronicled the reappearance of the Sunrise Rock Cross at the Mojave War Memorial after the original Cross-- the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision-- was stolen. Now, according to the San Diego Union Tribune , the National Park Service took down the replacement yesterday afternoon after determining that it was not the original Cross. The new cross was six inches taller than the original and was freshly painted. Four new holes were drilled to replace bolts cut off by thieves when they took the original. A Park Service spokesperson gave two reasons for removal of the replacement cross. First the government is still under court order not to display a cross on Sunrise Rock, at least prior to any transfer of the land to the VFW. Second, the new Cross is illegal since the person erecting it did not follow Park Service regulations to obtain permission to put up a new memorial in a national park. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on May 21, 2010 (boomark / email).