ACLU-backed residents challenge church-sponsored cross art in Evansville

On Tuesday, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago heard arguments regarding a church-sponsored public-art installation located in Evansville, Indiana, the Wall Street Journal said. The American Civil Liberties Union represented two natives who had sued the city regarding the public art installation of 31 plastic crosses, each measuring six-foot tall. According to the ACLU on behalf of its clients, the art installation called the "Cross The River" project had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, according to the newspaper.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, based on a definition by the Cornell University Law School Blog, prohibits the US government from creating any law that respects an establishment of religion. This means that the US government, or in this case, the city of Evansville, should not undertake any actions that would favor a certain religion over the others.

Citing an Associated Press news wire, Nancy Tarsitano Drake was one of two residents of Evansville who had wanted the West Side Christian Church project to be taken down as it was inappropriate for the city to allow the installation to be erected, and could spur conclusions that the city was endorsing a particular religion.

Drake, said AP, attended the hearing, and told the agency, "There is no one on this earth who does not recognize it. It is a magnificent symbol."

Lawyers for West Side said that its public art installation should not be treated differently or above all art installations the city has approved.

In a brief filed with the Seventh Circuit, the lawyers stated, "When the government creates a forum for citizen speech and sets content-neutral time, place and manner conditions on the operation of the forum, a citizen may engage in speech, without creating a Constitutional violation even if the speech is from a religious perspective. There simply can be no Establishment Clause violation when the government does not sponsor the private expression."

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Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, American Civil Liberties Union

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