A few weeks ago, amid great controversy, Edmond's city council approved the plans of a local church to erect a 100+ foot cross right by the interstate. I have some experience with such a cross. Traveling on I-40 just outside Amarillo, you come across a humongeous white cross that suddenly appears on your horizon, staking its claim to all the prairie. The first time I saw it, it gave me quite a scare, jutting up from the the parched brown of the grasslands and the dinginess of Amarillo's buildings.
I'm not against religious symbols on the interstate. In northern Maryland, there is a charming statue of the Madonna by the highway with a sign identifying her as the patron saint of travelers. The statue is set atop a hillock and is surrounded by well-maintained hedges. My reaction, whenever I cross that point, is to lower the volume on the radio and get back under the speed limit. The Madonna fits in.
Amarillo's cross is not artistic. Infact, its location and size conspire to make it tasteless. Edmond's church, by the looks of it, will construct some similar monstrosity. Several people I talked to seem to miss that point. They view the proposed cross as either the right of Christians to express their faith or as the intimidation of non-Christians by the majority. Considering that the cross will be built on the private property of an Edmond church, this is a moot point.
Only the owner of a local restaurant has the right idea. He proposes to build a crab, about the size of the cross, to advertise his restaurant to motorists on the highway.
