I’m unnerved and upset by the attention the theft of the Mojave Cross has brought to the Mojave National Preserve.
First off, the basics. I recognize the importance of memorializing those who fell almost a century ago in the First World War, and the appropriateness of some sort of memorial at Sunrise Rock. I also understand and support those who feel the cross, as an explicit symbol of the Christian ideology, has no place on Federal land. I think the cross necessarily diminishes the sacrifice of those war casualties who were Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, or who adhered to some other metaphysical viewpoint not falling under the rubric of Christianity.
I think the caretakers of the cross are fine and sincere people. I think the cross site, if not the cross itself, is a facet of the history of the desert and could be argued to deserve preservation and interpretation by the Park Service. I think anyone who has an unconflicted opinion on the specific issue of the cross at Sunrise Rock is not as informed as they ought to be.
All that said, the cross is an ugly thing grafted onto a landscape that needs no enhancement. It looks entirely out of place at Sunrise Rock, about as deserving of siting there as would be a billboard or a giant pink flamingo. When I first started spending time on Cima Dome, in October 1997, the cross wasn’t standing: it had been lain in a cleft atop the rock by someone. The bolt plate was atop the rock. I have no idea whether it had been taken down by vandals or was in the process of being installed by the Sandozes: all I know is that it made me roll my eyes to think of the thing standing on the rock.
I think most of the people who are outraged about the theft don’t give a packrat’s ass about the place itself.
They certainly haven’t gotten many facts right in the reporting. The cross is described as being anywhere from 4 to 8 feet in height, set on a plain or a low pile of rocks atop a craggy peak (it’s actually on a tall pile of rocks atop a softly rounded dome), far from any routes of travel (it’s twenty feet from a relatively well-traveled road) made of rugged wood or PVC pipe. Those outraged by the theft claim no one but the VFW ever sees the cross, when in fact it’s seen by a significant percentage of visitors to the Preserve. Even in the Supreme Court decision, Justice Alito described the cross as more likely to be seen by rattlesnakes than by people. (I hope his legal opinions are better-informed.) They claim the site was chosen because the rock resembles a WWI doughboy in repose, a claim made up out of whole cloth. They claim it’s explicitly a war memorial, when there is in fact not a single thing on site – no plaque, no inscription, nothing – to indicate that some church didn’t put it up in order to win souls. I have seen boxes of fundamentalist literature left at the base of the rocks onto which the cross was bolted, but I’ve never seen a single piece of literature there mentioning war, or soldiers, or Europe.
And in fact those who are the most outraged by the theft don’t hesitate to declare their outrage in fundamentalist Christian phraseology: take a look at this Facebook Page for examples.
Some people are pissed off for legitimate reasons. Our friend Morongobill is pretty angry at the theft for example, and I respect his anger. Still, I’d bet very few of the people professing outrage actually care about the site. I’ve heard people talking about reinstalling the cross and putting land mines around it, even.
You know something? I actually thought of taking the cross down in the first few years I visited Cima Dome. It’s an intrusion and an eyesore, a blister on a beautiful rock face, one more example of an obsolete human value system literally set up above all that is real surrounding it. The fact that it’s a Christian symbol only makes it worse. Christianity in this country is a force for ignorance, for hatred, against freedom, and obstructing sane stewardship of the earth. The fact that there are less politically powerful tendencies within American Christianity that are not as destructive doesn’t change the odious nature of the religion as a whole. Sunrise Rock just looks better without the cross. I wanted it gone then and I still do.
But I didn’t take it down, because I learned that there were people in the immediate community to whom it was very valuable. They had put it up for arguably laudable reasons, and had done so when my father was a toddler. In the meantime, I learned that there were much greater threats to the landscape of Cima Dome than an ugly piece of public art.
Today I’d help the Sandozes put it back up just to shut the nation’s teabaggers up.
The thing that annoyed me about the theft — aside from the certainty that the right wing lunatic fringe would erupt — was that the thieves almost certainly came to the Preserve solely for the purpose of removing the cross. I may be wrong, but I’m betting that was their first and last visit to the place. The place didn’t matter to them: it was just a backdrop for their ideological act.
And the place doesn’t matter to the wingnuts, either. Most of them would be fine with installing a twenty-foot replacement, then scraping a hundred yards of perimeter free of all that pesky desert vegetation so that security cameras would have an unobstructed view. All this to glorify a god that doesn’t exist at the expense of a nature that does.
The cross itself was vandalism. The cross itself was desecration of a sacred place. It has survived long enough that it’s worthy of some sort of respect as a relic of early 20th century history, like the sheepherder’s carvings in the bark of Sierra Nevada aspens or 18th century settlers’ names carved into rock alongside petroglyphs, but that doesn’t make it any holier. If it were up to me the thing would be gone for good, perhaps replaced by a nonsectarian stone marker carved of native stone to honor war dead and explain the history of the site, perhaps replaced only by a small scar atop the rock. If it stays, I’ve gotten used to it: I don’t much care anymore. I do care about a piece of land I love devoutly being used for rhetorical points by people who would just as soon let the desert burn.
It’s a couple of goddamned sticks, people. Put ‘em back or don’t, but get the hell over it.
Yes my concern is now going in the direction of which group or organization will latch onto this act of vandalism, to further their own ends. Or that the NPS might use this as an excuse
to close the park at night, and/or start charging entry fees, both ideas that might or might not have merit.
I admit I lost it and went off the deep end on this.
Bill, your anger was at least honest and informed by love of the place. Also, from what you’ve said, your anger was spurred by what you saw as an insult to veterans. I don’t have a problem with any of that.
Oddly, if there had been a couple of campers up there I bet the theft wouldn’t have happened. So really it’s my fault for heading home from Hole In The Wall on Sunday afternoon rather than playing hookey and camping out another night.
Random thoughts:
Installing a NEW cross on the site might have to get past a legal injunction to stop it. Would that require a new Supreme Court hearing?
So ... let’s say actual government employees are eventually ordered to the site to install a new Christian cross, what sort of interesting legal issues come to mind?
As an alternative, I’m picturing Christian Teabag ninjas with cordless drills converging on the site in the night to install a 90-foot wind-powered neon cross.
We visited the area over X-mas and saw the cross. The only thing funnier than the fight over it was the way it was covered while the case was on going. As if “2 sticks” weren’t bad enuff they put a box over the cross leaving the bottom uncoverd. It looked like a plywood lolie-pop.
You are probably right when you guessed that people who haven’t ever been there took it. I can only imagine a couple of people rolling in with their Prius and thinking “Why is this place protected? It is just full of weeds.”
The only good thing to come out of this is that Christian groups are telling people to NOT put up crosses everywhere because of fights like this. The ruling could have told them to put up symbols for all major religions and they really don’t want that.
In some ways I’m glad I don’t live anywhere near the Mojave Preserve. I’ve felt the power that the place can exert even during the shortest, most superficial of visits. A few nights at Hole-in-the-Wall, some short day hikes, a visit to Kelso Depot (not really a part of the natural landscape but a neat place nonetheless), a walk up Kelso Dunes. It’s a place I return to in my imagination far more frequently than I do the Grand Canyon (which has been the “real” destination for each of my Mojave visits), or many other places I’ve visited.
I haven’t seen the cross in person. Given the impact of the Mojave on me I can’t imagine that it really adds anything. Then again, objects and actions inevitably acquire significance with the passage of time. I used to work at an outdoor American history museum and drove a 1930’s era ford Model A truck around the site. Tourists would stop and take pictures of me and my “old” truck. I always found it ironic that the museum was itself founded in 1929. A visitor to the museum back then would have thought my “old-fashioned” truck modern and out of place.
How or when can the history of an item outweigh its inherent meaning? I don’t have an answer to the problem. I’m an atheist who, during trips to Europe, spends as much of my free time as possible in medieval cathedrals.
I guess I just try to live with and enjoy the contradictions.
Ron
What is wrong with natural beauty? Why do humans always have to put their fingerprint on everything? Just wondering why this place isn’t sacred (to everyone) in its natural state. Funny how their is not literature on the veterans of WW1 if it is really a war memorial.
Bill:www.wildramblings.com
Greetings again.
I guess what bothers me about people stealing the cross is this. What would they rather look at? A cross on a hill or a 4,000 acre solar power tower in Ivanpah Valley next to the park? I am not saying that the people who stole the cross support big solar, but I seriously doubt that any of these people attended hearings, visited the Ivanpah solar site or wrote meaningful letters. I am just wondering how effective the people who stole the cross are in actually protecting the desert…
Whoever decided to make this small cross their Waterloo likely doesn’t read the papers or watch the news these days, which is unfortunate. Reading the story yesterday, my first impression was picturing some Righteous Anger Express bus riding in with hundreds of people in tow. Picturing whatshername standing on top of the boulder, jackhammer in hand, for the photo op. Picturing something larger, gaudier, and even more symbolic in it’s place, and this time the symbolism is going to be political theater.
I love that place, but tact counts for a lot. This was not the time to make a stand at that rock.
The latest folks per an anonymous letter sent to the Desert Dispatch is that a veteran
removed the cross and has it in his care, details here:
http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/explaining-8465-anonymous-letter.html
What twists and turns.
Bill Mcdonald
Some people reading this may recognize my name, I own a fair amount of land that is identified on maps of the park.
First the facts: the Mojave national preserve not unlike other parks and preserves is largely remote and is well suited for all types of criminal activity: homicide, body dumping,rape,auto theft,burglary,railroad theft,drug manufacturing,chop shops,vandalism and willful destruction of cultural resources just to name a few.
Most if not all of those crimes mentioned above have occurred in the preserve in resent years. In fact, in the past few months.
I’m bringing this to your attention because this is not generally publicized due to the fact that we want people to visit our parks. However this is also why some residents in the preserve carry side arms.
The park service does the best they can with the limited resources they have available to cover this vast area; their job is not an easy one.
Now onto the matter of the cross: I am not a religious person nor do I think the cross has a place in the park. However, the argument for or against its existence should have taken place many years ago when it was installed.
Now we see why such symbols should not be permitted on public land. This is our land, this is our preserve, and it is our right not to have the government play host to symbols that reflect a certain belief.
The Mojave cross has died a very slow death at some cost to us all. Although I don’t condone vandalism, let it rest in peace in the hands of those that chose to do what perhaps should have been done years ago in order to keep some people from looking like fools.
Out here we don’t whip a dead horse.