A Colorado town has refused to take down a veterans’ memorial following complaints from a church-and-state watchdog group that’s opposed to the monument because it includes a Christian message.
Last year, the Town of Monument had a veterans’ memorial erected in its official cemetery, which was designed by teenager Michael Carlson, an Eagle Scout, who raised $46,000 in private donations for the project.
The memorial included a plaque that read, “Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One died for your soul, the other died for your freedom. We honor those who made freedom a reality.”
The project recently garnered the attention of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which argued that the memorial was a violation of the separation of church and state.
First Liberty Institute, which is representing the Town of Monument, sent a letter to MRFF President Mikey Weinstein, explaining that the town refuses to remove the memorial.
Attorneys labeled Weinstein’s rhetoric against the memorial as “an attack on a minor” and “profoundly disrespectful,” adding that the memorial was “privately designed, privately maintained, and located on private burial plots in Monument Cemetery.”
In addition to the religious statement, the memorial features a crescent stonewall, a flagpole, a marker thanking donors to the project, and a “Battlefield Cross” sculpture.