There’s a moment in Al Pacino’s new film Danny Collins when the eponymous character, alone in his dressing room, touches the ornate Cross nested in his ancient rock star chest hair. The gesture is cinematic sleight of hand.
In the next frame, Collins uncaps the crucifix and pours out a few lines of cocaine to put up his nose so his show can go on. The sign of our faith, in the fingers of a pop icon, turns into yet another clever cache for the pursuit of becoming comfortably numb.

NEW YORK - A cross-shaped beam from the wreckage of the World Trade Centre can remain on display in the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, dismissing a lawsuit brought by atheists.

The cross is a sacred symbol of Christianity. It represents Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and is the most important symbol we have. However, it can be used in a disrespectful manner, especially when it comes to the fashion and entertainment industries. 

A few years ago, some friends and I were shopping in downtown Toronto. We walked into an ordinary clothing store and near the front were crosses adorned with fake crystals.

LOS ANGELES - A cross will be restored to a war memorial in a remote part of a national park in the California desert, according to a settlement agreement approved April 16 and announced April 24.

District Court Judge Robert Timlin signed off on an agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union to swap the half hectare parcel at Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve for land of equal value elsewhere in the preserve that was donated for the trade. The memorial site will be owned by the Veterans Home of California-Barstow, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 385E.

The British government’s flagrant insult to the cross is more than a religious issue. Though it is clearly anti-Christian, it is yet another example of chipping away at Western society and the ideals that make it the envy of the world.

People from all over the world for years have flocked to Western democracies to experience freedom, raise families and live better lives. And, for the most part, the West has welcomed them with open arms. There has been discrimination, but in the larger scheme of things, rising tides lift all boats and as newcomers arrive, our society rises with them.

In promoting new evangelization, Pope Benedict has lamented what he calls an “eclipse of the sense of God” in society.

In 2009 that eclipse was exposed in a very public way when an atheist won a much-publicized case (subsequently overturned on appeal) to have crucifixes removed from Italian classrooms. Since then, cases have abounded in which the state has sided with individuals clamouring to expunge religious symbols, holidays, prayer and even Christian conscience from public life. But recent actions by the British government elevate state-sponsored religious intolerance to a new level.

The coalition government of David Cameron has declared that citizens have no right to wear a cross around their necks at work and can be required to remove their cross if ordered by the boss. If they refuse, they can be fired.