OPINION:
So the Tega Cay City Council in South Carolina decided that the reference to the “Lord” on a monument honoring fallen police officers wasn’t worth the hassle of some residential complaints, and they scrubbed and scrubbed until the offending word was removed.
And when that wasn’t enough, officials removed the memorial completely.
What a sad, sorry sign of modern American times.
This rapidly secularizing era is going to be the downfall of this country — watch and see.
The memorial included a Bible reference from Matthew that read, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” And on the back was a prayer that read like this: “Lord, I ask for courage. Courage to face and conquer my own fears, courage to take me where others will not go … Give me Lord, concern for others who trust me and compassion for those who need me. And please Lord, through it all, be at my side.”
Why can’t atheists simply close their eyes, or avert their eyes, whenever they feel offended by a public reference to God?
“We attempted to find a compromise,” Tega officials said in a statement reported by Fox News. “But [we] failed as our community has further divided.”
The monument once stood at the Tega Cay Police Station as a somber, quiet show of respect to those who “risk their lives every day for ours,” local officials said. But now?
It’s gone.
The city’s attorney warned about the potential of lawsuits. And local governing authorities took the warning to mean tear down this monument.
What a crock.
The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled the Bladensburg Peace Cross war memorial was allowed to stand, despite the opposition from atheists and the American Humanist Association, for crying out loud.
This memorial to police is only offensive to those who seek out offensiveness as cause to take personal vendettas.
But this is where America now stands, on a precipice of radical secularism that will ultimately, if we let it, drive out all that’s great about the country — the idea that here, individual rights come from God, not government. Removing all references to the Creator from the public arena is the left’s biggest goal because it then opens the door for government to come in and fill church shoes.
Americans who love freedom need to step up and put a stop to this nonsense.
Look at it this way: If a police monument that mentions the “Lord” is too offensive to show, then America’s legal tender with its “In God We Trust” messaging must go — America’s Constitution with its “in the year of our Lord” sign-off must go — America’s Declaration of Independence with its “all … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” reference must go.
God and America: It’s a combo that’s simply in our DNA.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.