Ask Ms. Magnolia

If you have a question for Ms. Magnolia, please mail it to P.O. Box 669, Vidalia, GA 30475, or e-mail to msmagnoliaadvance@yahoo.com.

Ms. Magnolia

Dear Ms. Magnolia, My brother was visiting from Denver and saw the crosses with lights on them in the yards around Vidalia and other towns that we visited as we took him sight-seeing. I told him they had a religious meaning around Easter, but I’m not sure why they are still in the yards. Can you explain it? L.T

Dear L.T., In April 2020, a family in Georgia encouraged residents to place crosses in their front yards as a message of hope during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since it was the Easter season when the crosses were inspired, they were lit with lights to symbolize that the Christian faith is stronger than the fear of any disease.

These are called Faith Over Fear, or Faith Not Fear, crosses. The grassroots initiative spread all over the country and Facebook groups have sprung up posting photos of the crosses. In some areas young people make the crosses and sell them, using the money to buy snacks for hospital workers serving during the pandemic. Still present after 6 months, the crosses give comfort to worshippers who have been forbidden to attend church for almost a year because of local governments prohibiting group gatherings.

Unfortunately, hoping to sensationalize anticonservative and antireligious themes, certain news sources have suggested that the crosses are insensitive because they might remind some people of the burning crosses of the KKK of another era. They want the crosses removed. Citizens are ignoring these attacks on religious liberty and are standing by their rights to keep the crosses in their yards for their original message of Faith and Hope.

Letters have been edited for length and clarity.