TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – A nearly 50-foot tall cross erected last week next to a church hasn’t delighted some of its neighbors, who see the towering cross as a distraction.
The cross, made from a bridge I-beam and a 35-foot crossbeam and letters 3-1/2 feet tall which spell out "Jesus Saves," was erected last Monday outside Cross Tabernacle along U.S. 41.
Members of the church on Terre Haute’s north side see the cross as a symbol of their religious mission, and concede that it dominates the local landscape.
"It is in-your-face evangelism," said Keith E. Taylor, pastor of the 1,400-member church. "I couldn’t preach a better sermon than what that cross is doing."
The cross was erected after gaining the approval of city zoning officials to exceed a 15-foot height restriction.
Mike Dowell, a co-owner of JJ Smith Flower Shop and Gardens, which owns land next to the church, said he wishes someone from the church had talked with him before the cross was built.
"It overpowers our property that we are trying to sell and our business that has been there over 150 years," he said. "It is good to have some type of religion, as religion is good for the human soul, but I don’t like people trying to shove their religion down my throat. That is overkill."
Tolerance has turned our nation into a group of intolerant wimps. A cross with a message is now shoving religion down your throat. I wonder if this guy has ever vacationed in Rio de Janeiro?
7 comments
I don’t know, that’s kind of big, and doesn’t sound very attractive either. Made from I-beams? I like big crosses as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t want to be in the shadow of that thing.
In addition, I don’t think a cross without a corpus sends much of a message anyway.
Phbbt…”nearly 50 feet tall.” That’s nothing. This guy should talk to the owners of businesses on I-40 outside of Memphis. The middle cross at Bellevue Baptist is 150′ by 50′ and the two on the sides are both 120′ by 40′ (this picture gives a bit of an idea of how insanely large they are).
I don’t have a problem with the cross itself but rather with the structure’s height and size.
Speaking from personal experience of having one of those obnoxious cell phone towers about two blocks away (a tower that, granted, is taller than 50′ !), things are getting out of hand as far as towers, billboards and signage littering our landscape. I live in a small city (100,000 people) and the skyline is cluttered everywhere with cell towers and billboards.
I guess that the person in the story got a variance for the cross, my guess is that his plea for a variance at the local council or zoning meeting wasn’t well publicized.
Terre Haute is in the middle of big time Catholic country,believe it or not, the “in your face evangelism” they are talking about is basically them sendng a message to the Catholics.
I think I agree with Patrick. This is more of the evangelicals setting their sites on Catholic baiting than them evangelizing the truly “unchurched”.
I am from nearby and the evenagelicals in my area consider my Catholic elementary school age daughter to be “unchurched” and keep inviting her to events to learn about Jesus.
She just calmly tells them thanks but She knows about Jesus. He lives in her church (in the tabernacle).
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