At What Level?

I will continue to grapple with the 14th Amendment's effect on the local.

I can put a cross on the roof of my house, no problem.  It's my roof and will be my cross.

Putting a cross on top of the city water tower appears to be a no-go because the 14th amendment applies the 1st amendment to the states and since a city is a creature of the state it applies to municipalities.

I can accept that.  Really.

Except.

Government itself is a creation of the people themselves.  We created it to advance our needs and protect our liberties.  Too often it has become a tool to impose our prejudices on others.

The fact that people are putting crosses on top of water towers in defiance of the 14th amendment, ACLU and FFRF seems to indicate a bit of push-back against the separation of church and state.

Let's remember that prior to the 14th, the 1st amendment really only applied to the federal government.  The framers intended the states to be able to do their own thing.  That the states didn't get the message about the outcome of the Civil War forced the 14th amendment on them.

I posit that a cross on the water tower, or at a veteran's cemetery was fine to the founders and that the resultant effects of the 14th on such things was unintended.  To get religious freedom, for reals, we're probably going to have to pass another amendment allowing for towns to be able to put up crosses and manger scenes.  This is really a restoration of the original state of things when the Bill of Rights was passed.

Remember, the entire point of this grand experiment is MORE liberty.  If a single person in a town of, say, 1,500 can be offended by the cross and override the remaining 1,499 that's just freedom for one person.  Tyranny of the minority.  For an example of this in action just look at what the permanent members of the UN Security Council can do to prevent something that the whole rest of the general assembly wants.

Especially since the meaning of any given symbol is very subjective and fluid.

What does the Confederate Battle Flag symbolize?

Swastika?

Inverted Cross? (Bonus points for this one).

US flag flown upside down?

It has to be religious to qualify to be eradicated?  OK.  Druids find trees to be holy; I do believe that the city is using public funds to grow and maintain trees in its parks.  Yellow is the color of the Chinese God-Emperor, public funds are used to buy and maintain school busses, road signs and lights in this holy (to some) hue.

The toughest nut of freedom is that you have to give it to get it.  If you want to be left alone you have to leave people alone.  Yes, there are people who will be offensive.  Yes, you will offend.  A thick skin is a prerequisite for living in liberty.  You have to become brutally honest about what actual harm you've endured.  "I don't like that" is far below the bar of injury.  To borrow a religious phrasing of it, "Do as you will, harm none."  Libertarians could get behind that as well as Wiccans.  That means the Christians have to let there be a titty bar, the atheists have to let the Christians rent the top of the city water tower for their cross (I agree that city monies shouldn't pay for it) and the market will decide what prevails.

The 1st amendment is about the imposition of religion from the outside.  Preventing one from choosing for themselves.  Imposing atheism from the outside is exactly the form of state tyranny the framers were talking about when they wrote about religious freedom; and make no mistake atheism IS a religious position.  "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" - Rush.