n estimated 10,000 people marched through the streets of Boise, Idaho yesterday to demonstrate their support for keeping the Table Rock Christian cross standing. A series of speakers, including government officials addressed the excited crowd when it reached the steps of the Capitol building, and praised citizens for supporting the monument which has become the focus of controversy in recent weeks.

    Among those addressing the gathering was Idaho Lt. Gov. Butch Otter. "It is in private property that the roots of all freedom exist," he said. "You want to build a church, you want to start a religion, go get yourself a piece of private property. That's the way it is and that's the way it should be. And that the way the cross is up on the hill."

    The Lt. Governor then led the crowd in a "prayer for atheists" who were opposing the Table Rock monument.

    A local pastor told the demonstrators that "our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

   Chicago-area atheist Rob Sherman described yesterday's event as a "display of religious information." Sherman was in Boise three weeks ago to address the local Idaho Atheists group, and called for removal of the Table Rock cross. He charged that state officials acted in a fraudulent manner when they decided to transfer ownership of the land on which the cross is built to the local Jaycees group. Sherman says that documents of the State Land Board meeting reflect that public officials wished to keep word of the "sale" low-key so that organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union would not be able to enter the bidding process, and possibly obtain ownership of the land and remove the Christian monument.

    State Controller J.D. Williams was another public official who addressed yesterday's cross rally; he assured the crowd that Land Board records of the 1971 were legal.

   "It was totally done in the light of day, in the governor's office," he gushed. "We believe in the rule of law, not of men. It was done right."

    Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was not present at the rally, but expressed his support for the event earlier in the week. In a letter to the Jaycees, Kempthorne said that he was in favor of keeping the cross in its present location. "Once again, it appears that out-of-state interests are attempting to define Idaho and the great people who live here," the governor wrote -- a clear reference to Rob Sherman. He added that "separation of church and state was never intended to suggest or promote atheism. In fact, the founders of that principle are the same individuals who established the notion that we are One Nation Under God..."

    As the crowd streamed toward the capitol building, the only sign of visible opposition came from atheist activist Carol Bachelder, who stood on a sidewalk wearing a two-sided placard. Each side depicted a bleeding cross with the slash-circle over it.

    "The cross is illegal," Bachelder told the Idaho Statesman newspaper. "It was built on public land, and then when it was questioned, a little hush-hush sale went on just to buy enough property underneath and around the cross that they could say, 'This is on private land." She added: "To me, it was an end-run around the Constitution."

    Bachelder also received air time on Boise's NBC television channel KTVB. When asked what she could do as just one person, she told reporters: "All it took to remove prayer and Bible reading from the public schools was Madalyn Murray O'Hair, so maybe something like that will happen here in Boise..."

    Tomorrow, another player in the Table Rock Cross controversy -- Idaho Atheists -- will release a statement to the media and a letter to the Idaho Jaycees group asking that the cross be removed and relocated to "legitimately obtained private property."

    "We are urging the Jaycees and the citizens of Idaho to support the legitimate expression of beliefs, and to hold their government accountable for showing inappropriate preference for one belief over another," said a spokesperson for the organization.

    The letter will also reportedly urge members of the Jaycees to "join with us in mending fences instead of inflaming the politics of division." It also notes -- and corrects the faulty claim made by Gov. Kempthorne -- that "The founders of our nation adopted as its motto the ancient Roman expression, E Pluribus Unum -- unity arises out of plurality."

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