A conservative group is threatening to sue the Secret Service for religious discrimination over security guidelines that would ban Christian crosses from President Bush's inaugural parade route.
The Secret Service said Monday that the guidelines are meant to prohibit large structures that could be used as weapons. Crosses are the only religious symbols on the list of banned items.
In a Dec. 17 directive to the National Park Service, the Secret Service mandated that signs and placards along the inaugural parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue be made of cardboard, poster board or cloth. They cannot be more than 3 feet wide or 20 feet long.
The directive also prohibits along the route such items as folding chairs and bicycles as well as displays "such as puppets, papier mache objects, coffins, crates, crosses, theaters, cages and statues."
"The way it's written, it's an unequivocal ban on crosses," said Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, which is seeking to have the prohibition overturned in federal court if the Secret Service doesn't rescind it.
"They are not banning large displays of the Star of David or Islamic symbols," he said.
"The only resolution is that they would have to pull `crosses' out. And they could easily protect religious freedom by saying, `We ban all structures made of wood,"' Mahoney added.
The Secret Service was working on a clarification Monday to resolve the flap. Spokesman Tom Mazur said the cross ban "is strictly in regards to structures--certainly not the symbol."
"There is no prohibition on crosses, symbols or messages based on content--only structures made of materials or of a size that could be used in a potentially threatening or harmful manner," he added.