Ryan Sabalow

The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — A 14-inch white cross on state park property has thrust the east-Central Indiana town of Liberty into a national debate over religious icons on public lands.

And a national atheist group has jumped into the fray.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation last month sent a letter to Department of Natural Resources Director Cameron Clark telling him that a cross attached to a new war veterans memorial statute has no place at Whitewater Memorial State Park.

"No secular purpose, no matter how sincere, will detract from the overall message that the Latin cross stands for Christianity and the overall display promotes Christianity," wrote Rebecca S. Markert, the foundation's attorney.

Markert added that the cross "will send a message that the government only cares about the deaths of Christian soldiers."

The 14-inch, white-painted cross is at the bottom of an 8-foot-tall wooden chainsaw-carved statue. At the top is a bald eagle perched above lettering that says "All gave some; Some gave all." One side of the eagle's perch is an Indiana state flag. On the other side is a soldier.

DNR officials are deciding if they will allow the carving to stay in place near the park headquarters. A message left with a DNR spokesman Monday wasn't immediately returned.

Whitewater Memorial State Park was formed in 1949 and was dedicated to World War II veterans from Union, Wayne, Fayette and Franklin counties in east Central Indiana. It's about 80 miles east of Indianapolis.

The debate over the cross erupted earlier this summer when retired Liberty restaurateur Wendell Bias sent a letter to the DNR after he saw the statue on display at the park.

Bias, a U.S. Army veteran, told The Star Monday that he didn't think the cross was appropriate.

Bias didn't know who alerted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist and agnostic group of more than 21,000 national members. The foundation didn't return a request for comment Monday.

Veterans' groups and other residents donated money to pay for the carved memorial, Union County Development Corp. president Howard Curry said. No taxpayer funds were used for the carving, which was donated to the park.

The Richmond, Ind., sculptor who carved the piece, Dayle K. Lewis, said he used his chainsaw to carve the cross because that particular section of the statue "was plain and needed something," but he also wanted to set the scene of a soldier standing over a grave. The cross, he said, was a natural fit.

"We didn't think this would be a religious thing," he said.

Lewis was quite proud of the statue that he spent at least 90 hours working on, until he read a negative online article posted by an atheist group in which anonymous commenters tore it apart.

"They were talking that it was hideous, the worst sculpture they ever seen; it (the soldier) looked like a farm boy with overalls and a bad haircut," he said. "They were really ripping it."

But Lewis said he's also been heartened to received praise from national supporters. He said a California man offered to buy it if the DNR ordered it moved from the property.

The statue also has received more than its share of support in this town of 2,100 people.

Bob Napier, a Union County Korean War veteran, said his group sent a petition with 1,651 signatures to the DNR urging the agency to keep the statue where it is.

A Facebook group called "Keep the Cross Carving at Whitewater Memorial State Park" has more than 800 members.

Some have proposed removing the cross from the bottom of the statue, but Napier said that's not an option.

"We don't want that," Napier said. "We want it the way it is. We don't want to move it somewhere else, either. We want it to be at the park that is dedicated to veterans. Vets fought for freedom, but they keep taking our freedoms away from us."

But Bias said that all soldiers, not just the Christian ones, fought for their nation's freedoms.

"I've been to Arlington a couple times, and I've been to France to that cemetery over there," Bias said. "While they're mostly crosses, they're not all crosses."

It's going to be up to the DNR to determine which of these cross purposes prevails in Liberty.

Contributing: Pam Tharp, (Richmond, Ind.) Palladium-Item