Military Grave Markers

From dKosopedia

Category: Urban legends

Military Grave Markers

'Tale: The ACLU is seeking to have cross-shaped headstones removed from federal cemeteries

Status: False

One line rebuttal: It is not true

Examples:

• Did you see in the news last week where the ACLU doesn't want any crosses on any Federal property?

Snopes: On their page titled Grave Concerns Snopes actually does an excellent job of proving this is a false tale:

From Snopes

Origins: Over the years, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (and other related groups) have opposed the display of religious monuments and symbols on state-owned or state-maintained property. Some recent examples of these objects of contention include .. a monument to the Ten Commandments in Alabama's state judicial building..

The implication in the message quoted above — that the ACLU's opposition to religious displays on state property extends to their advocating the removal of headstones and burial markers from federal cemeteries in the U.S. (even though the message is usually accompanied by a photograph of a European cemetery where American World War II servicemen are interred) — is another example of one group's exaggerating their opponent's position in order to mobilize support through political outrage (much like the recent rumor claiming that France had demanded the removal of buried American servicemen from French soil). Gravestones in public cemeteries are not deemed to constitute a government endorsement of religion because they individually represent the private religious beliefs of the persons buried there, and those symbols are chosen by family members of the deceased and not the government. Accordingly, the ACLU has stated that it is not seeking to have cross-shaped headstones (or headstones bearing any other religious symbols) removed from the federal cemeteries wherein many of our honored veterans are interred

The ACLU is not pursuing, nor has it ever pursued, the removal of religious symbols from personal gravestones. Personal gravestones are the choice of the family members, not the choice of the government. The ACLU celebrates this freedom to choose the religious symbol of your choice.