Teh One Who Knocks
05-05-2016, 10:59 AM
By WENDY VICTORA - NW Florida Daily News
http://i.imgur.com/ZhDUHUK.jpg
A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Pensacola, challenging a 25-foot-tall cross in Bayview Park. The suit was filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Northern District in Florida.
“Federal courts have made abundantly clear that the government’s display of a Christian cross on public land violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,” said Monica Miller, senior counsel with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, one of the organizations filing the suit. “This cross sends a clear and exclusionary message of government preference for Christianity over all other religions.”
“Pensacola’s cross is a clear violation of the separation of state and church,” said Freedom from Religion Foundation Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler. “We’re thankful to be working with courageous Pensacola residents to end the city’s unconstitutional religious favoritism.”
According to the lawsuit, the white Christian cross dominates the public park, where it is maintained by the city. The cross also is the site of numerous Easter Sunrise services, frequently co-hosted by Christian churches. A plaque specifically referencing Easter sits at the base of a platform near the cross.
For at least the past 15 years, the city has received requests to remove the cross from citizens, according to a press release from those filing the lawsuit.
In July 2015, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association sent warnings to the city that the public display and maintenance of the cross was a form of religious endorsement by the government. The city did not respond to these complaints.
The local plaintiffs, Amanda Kondrat’Yev, Andreiy Kondrat’Yev, Andre Ryland and David Suhor, are non-Christians and feel marginalized and excluded by their government’s display of this large Christian symbol, the release said.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the Bayview Cross is unconstitutional. It also asks the court to require the city to remove the Bayview Cross and to prohibit displaying Christian crosses on public land in the future.
The “large government-owned, government-funded and government-maintained Christian cross” dominates the visual space, according to the lawsuit, and endorses Christianity over other religions and over non-religions.
The Kondrat’Yevs have lived in Pensacola for about 10 years and live six miles from the park. The lawsuit estimates that the couple has each had “unwelcome contact” with the cross about 30 times since she first encountered it in 2008 or 2009.
They identify themselves as atheists, as does Ryland, the lawsuit states.
Suhor does not believe in any god or gods and opposes the cross, which he feels represents governmental favoritism.
In addition to the city, the lawsuit targets Mayor Ashton Hayward and Director of Parks and Recreation Brian Cooper.
http://i.imgur.com/ZhDUHUK.jpg
A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Pensacola, challenging a 25-foot-tall cross in Bayview Park. The suit was filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Northern District in Florida.
“Federal courts have made abundantly clear that the government’s display of a Christian cross on public land violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,” said Monica Miller, senior counsel with the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, one of the organizations filing the suit. “This cross sends a clear and exclusionary message of government preference for Christianity over all other religions.”
“Pensacola’s cross is a clear violation of the separation of state and church,” said Freedom from Religion Foundation Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler. “We’re thankful to be working with courageous Pensacola residents to end the city’s unconstitutional religious favoritism.”
According to the lawsuit, the white Christian cross dominates the public park, where it is maintained by the city. The cross also is the site of numerous Easter Sunrise services, frequently co-hosted by Christian churches. A plaque specifically referencing Easter sits at the base of a platform near the cross.
For at least the past 15 years, the city has received requests to remove the cross from citizens, according to a press release from those filing the lawsuit.
In July 2015, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association sent warnings to the city that the public display and maintenance of the cross was a form of religious endorsement by the government. The city did not respond to these complaints.
The local plaintiffs, Amanda Kondrat’Yev, Andreiy Kondrat’Yev, Andre Ryland and David Suhor, are non-Christians and feel marginalized and excluded by their government’s display of this large Christian symbol, the release said.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the Bayview Cross is unconstitutional. It also asks the court to require the city to remove the Bayview Cross and to prohibit displaying Christian crosses on public land in the future.
The “large government-owned, government-funded and government-maintained Christian cross” dominates the visual space, according to the lawsuit, and endorses Christianity over other religions and over non-religions.
The Kondrat’Yevs have lived in Pensacola for about 10 years and live six miles from the park. The lawsuit estimates that the couple has each had “unwelcome contact” with the cross about 30 times since she first encountered it in 2008 or 2009.
They identify themselves as atheists, as does Ryland, the lawsuit states.
Suhor does not believe in any god or gods and opposes the cross, which he feels represents governmental favoritism.
In addition to the city, the lawsuit targets Mayor Ashton Hayward and Director of Parks and Recreation Brian Cooper.