State asks judge to dismiss cross suit

The Utah Attorney General's Office has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the state by the American Atheists over roadside crosses memorializing fallen Utah Highway Patrol troopers.

In an answer filed Wednesday to the lawsuit in federal court, the Utah Attorney General's Office insists the crosses are symbols of death, not religious symbols.

"The reaction of the average and reasonable viewer of the memorials, and especially an average and reasonable Utah viewer, is not that it is an endorsement of religion generally or Christianity in particular but rather that it is a memorial or marker of death," the court papers say.

The state contends the only message the crosses send are over public safety, the dangers on the roadways and the sacrifice of state employees monitoring and patrolling the roadway.

The Texas-based American Atheists Inc. filed a lawsuit representing Utah members who believe the crosses violate the separation of church and state. They want a court order to remove the crosses, replacing them with more secular monuments to UHP troopers who have been killed in the line of duty.