Don’t cross Secret Service

REV. DR. DEBORAH BARRETT

A Christian group has voiced its criticism of the Secret Service

after being informed that crosses, among other items, would not be

permitted along the route for the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration

parade. The Christian Defense Coalition had been planning a prayer

vigil and demonstration near the route. The Secret Service gave the

group a permit to gather along the parade route, but also included a

list of items that could not be brought. The list includes firearms,

explosives, folding chairs, bicycles, papier-mache objects and more.

National security concerns aside, does the group have a legitimate

argument for the right to bring crosses, or any religious symbol, to

the inauguration parade?

If I carry a life-sized wooden Buddha seated in meditation to a

demonstration against the war in Iraq, do you think the police will

stop me? The Christian Defense Coalition contends that only people

carrying crosses will be singled out by the Secret Service.

I imagine this kind of scenario, not because I would want to do

it, but to be objective, to test whether religious freedom has been

threatened in a situation where I find myself strongly opposed to the

agenda of the group alleging discrimination. In this case, it is the

Christian Defense Coalition’s demonstration along the inauguration

parade route against a woman’s legal right to choose abortion. This

is a simple security matter, but the group is highly adept at using

press releases to spin it as anti-Christian discrimination, to

further their cause and magnify their importance.

What is the real question? May the materials used for religious

symbols at public demonstrations be limited in the interest of public

safety? The question is not whether Christian crosses may be worn or

displayed, but rather the type of material used in their construction

and the size of them. Could the symbol conceal a weapon, or could the

symbol itself be used as a weapon? The chief counsel for the Secret

Service clearly stated that the image of the cross has not been

banned and that individuals attending the parade are free to place

the image on signs and banners, to wear crosses, to carry rosaries or

to use the image in any way that does not conflict with safety

concerns.

In response to their application, the Christian Defense Coalition

did receive a permit to demonstrate at a specific site along the

inaugural parade route. The goal of their demonstration is the

appointment of Supreme Court justices who will limit or end legalized

abortion. Their activities in the past have included demonstrating

outside abortion clinics as well as letters of support for the

placing of the Ten Commandments on public property in Alabama.

But regardless of the political agenda of the group, the Secret

Service applied the pre-existing Park Service regulations governing

demonstration activity on the White House sidewalk and Lafayette

Park. These federal regulations ban “structures” which could be used

to conceal a weapon or which could be utilized as weapons. The

regulations provide a list of examples of what might be meant by the

term “structures,” and it is obvious that the list is not intended to

be comprehensive. I would imagine this list of “such as” was based on

considerable experience with ongoing demonstrations at the national

capitol. The examples are: “coffins, crates, crosses, theaters, cages

and statues.”

I don’t mind if I can’t carry large, potentially dangerous items

to a demonstration, and I am very glad that other people cannot. I do

mind misrepresentation of situations and issues in order to get

national media attention.

REV. DR. DEBORAH BARRETT

Zen Center of Orange County

Costa Mesa

Banning firearms and explosives seems a prudent proscription

during the inaugural activities ... but a cross?

This would appear to be another outbreak of over-zealousness, if

not hysteria, among law enforcement officials. I fail to understand

how the cross poses a threat to the general order or could be labeled

a security risk.

If men wearing bedsheets intended to set a cross on fire, that

would be an unwelcome prospect warranting interdiction. But that the

cross might be used as a weapon of violence along the parade route

stretches credulity. I suppose, though, we should be grateful that

our government is protecting us from the clear and present danger

posed by cross-wielding thugs. Although we cannot locate weapons of

mass destruction in Iraq, we obviously have no trouble in labeling

the cross as potential weaponry.

Since the inauguration ceremony itself features prayers by

Christian clerics, explicit references to Jesus, and the President

taking the oath as his hand rests on a Christian Bible, it can hardly

be maintained that a cross violates the spirit of the event (a

fascinating footnote: President Clinton took the oath in 1993 with

his family Bible opened to Galatians 6:8, “For he that sows to his

flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ... “).

This much ado about nothing strikes me as a case of bureaucratic

paranoia and whoever conceived it should be cross-examined.

RABBI MARK S. MILLER

Temple Bat Yam

Newport Beach

First, the Secret Service seems to be saying that structures,

including those looking like crosses cannot be constructed along the

parade route. Second, why did they single out crosses?

Any large object could be turned into a weapon against the

president. I appreciate the efforts of the Secret Service to protect

him. We would be naive to believe that terrorists respect the symbols

of any religion, even their own, especially if neglecting to do so

would accomplish their goals.

In researching this, it seems the Secret Service had intended to

say that even objects constructed to look like religious symbols

would not be permitted. The Secret Service could have said precisely

that, but instead used the word “Cross” instead. They did clarify and

say that crosses were not banned when made of approved products like

cardboard, only when made of metal, wood, etc.

This is a tempest in a teapot. Crosses were not banned from

appearing in the parade and I assume many people will be wearing

crosses and holding up banners with crosses. I trust the same would

be true of the Star of David or the crescent moon of Islam.

SENIOR ASSOCIATE PASTOR RIC OLSEN

Harbor Trinity

Costa Mesa

Why wouldn’t President Bush rejoice to have the symbol of his Lord

and Savior along the route of his parade ... even if it must be only

two-dimensional? Does our Secret Service have information that

crosses will be used to conceal things more dangerous than antennae

for cellular telephones? Are they afraid that someone on

Bonds/Giambi-like steroids will use one to clobber them? Who put

together a list excluding items ranging from explosives to

papier-mache objects? Will this be the focus of another Michael Moore

expose?

Answers to such questions lie beneath the real truth. The truth is

that the cross is the Christian symbol for life that is God’s gift,

life that is wonderful and precious beyond our imaginations, life

that is for each and every human being. The cross reminds us that God

is not a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu,

that God is sovereign over all nations, that God is neither a

Democrat nor a Republican ... Hmmm ...

VERY REV. CANON PETER D. HAYNES

St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar