Justice Scalia has a very difficult time understanding that whole "separation of church and state" thing.

As the Supreme Court weighed a dispute over a religious symbol on public land Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia was having difficulty understanding how some people might feel excluded by a cross that was put up as a memorial to soldiers killed in World War I. (You can see a picture of the boarded up cross here.)

"It's erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead," Scalia said of the cross that the Veterans of Foreign Wars built 75 years ago atop an outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve. "What would you have them erect?...Some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half moon and star?"

Peter Eliasberg, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer arguing the case, explained that the cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity and commonly used at Christian grave sites, not that the devoutly Catholic Scalia needed to be told that.

"I have been in Jewish cemeteries," Eliasberg continued. "There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew."

There was mild laughter in the packed courtroom, but not from Scalia.

"I don't think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion," Scalia said, clearly irritated by the exchange.

"Outrageous conclusion". Is it really? And would Justice Scalia feel the same way if the religious symbol that had been placed to "honor" the fallen American soldiers was the Jewish Star of David? The Buddhist Wheel of Dharma? The Baha'i Faiths Nine Pointed Star? Or perhaps the Hindu Swastika is more to their liking?

No if ANY of these symbols had been placed in honor of these soldiers Scalia would undoubtedly be leading the charge to have it removed. After all it does not represent HIS religious beliefs.

Times have changed, and thankfully Americans are far more cosmopolitan than they were back in 1934. We now have a better understanding of the differences that exist among the people of the world. And with that in mind, can we not imagine how hard it must be to constantly be confronted with the knowledge that you and your religion are valued less than the dominant religion of this country?

You are constantly reminded by the holidays that are celebrated, the pledge of allegiance your children are forced to recite in schools, and the very money that you earn while chasing your American dream. How is that for a reminder that your values and beliefs are not welcome here?

And it is not as if this challenge was brought by an Atheist, or anti-religious nut, it was brought by a Christian who served in the military: Although a Catholic and a veteran, Mr Buono said he wanted to see "neutrality" and that the cross represented an inappropriate expression of religion in public life.

If we are truly a country that respects ALL religious freedom then by definition we must be a country that constantly demonstrates a willingness to correct past examples of incivility to those who do not share America's most dominant faith.

Remember the words that are engraved on our most famous symbol of freedom:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Perhaps instead of having our children repeat an oath of allegiance to a country that may not yet openly value them, it would be better for them to repeat the last few stanza's of this sonnett. In my mind this better reflects the values that I hold dear in this great country of ours.