Claim: A North Carolina town was forced to remove a statue of a praying soldier and other Christian symbols from a public memorial.
Example: [Collected via email, January 2015]
Has a North Carolina town been made to remove a statue of a
praying soldier at a veterans memorial?
Origins: On
According to a local news source, city council members struggled with the decision to remove the praying soldier statue, but mounting legal costs associated with defending the memorial created an untenable legal situation:
According to a press release issued by the city, King had already incurred more than $50,000 in legal fees and costs and estimated that litigation costs would have approached
The dispute over the religiously-themed statue began in 2012 with a lawsuit filed by Hewett against King:
In July, U.S. District Court Judge
Hewett, a U.S. Army veteran, sued the city in November 2012 in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, alleging that King officials had violated his constitutional rights by allowing the Christian flag to fly at the Veteran's Memorial in the city's Central Park. Hewett asked a federal judge to bar the city from allowing the display of the Christian flag at the memorial, from displaying the statue of the soldier kneeling at a cross and from sponsoring religious activities at events at the site.
King City officials explained the decision was a fiscal one, with Charles Allen, a King city councilman, commenting:
I can't put that financial burden on the city. I'm not voting my conscience but on financial sense.
In summary, it's true the city of King was sued (by an individual citizen, not the federal government) over the praying soldier statue and the display of Christian flags, a factor that led to the removal of those elements from public space. However, no King city council members wanted to remove the memorial's Christian elements, and no court decision or governmental order required them to do so: the city opted not to fight the lawsuit and voted to remove the Christian elements due to concerns about the financial costs of contesting the lawsuit.
Last updated: 24 May 2015
