Mt. Soledad cross ordered to be taken down

[Tiberius]

The crosses in military cemeteries are on government property, tax payers money keeps them up and pay for those crosses.

GC

Yes, but in that case, it's an example of allowing any religion to participate, and there is plenty of room for the headstones. Additionally, the headstone is not the government displaying one religion over another, or supporting one religion in particular, but rather it is a display of the deceased's religion.

If however, the entrance to the graveyard had a cross on the gate and nothing else, that would be a government display of religion (namely, Christianity) over the others. I admit it's a fine (and often strange) line to draw, but the point of separation comes when the focus shifts from the individual to a group of people.

An individual's headstone displaying a cross, even if the government has paid for it and put it there, is clearly (in my opinion anyway) a display of that individual's religious beliefs. The same cannot be said if the cross was on display at the entrance to the graveyard (giving the impression that this is a Christian graveyard) or some public building. The individualism simply isn't there.

FYI, Military headstones are customized to display a symbol of the religion to which the deceased belonged:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta...nd_markers