Religion

so instead of trying to defend it on its merits, they'll often just say that it's been there so long it has lost the religious meaning, blah blah blah. Well part of the reason it went up and stayed up for so long was that religious minorities (particularly non-believers) knew they would have risked repercussions if they complained.

I doubt anyone is against honoring war dead. I doubt anyone is against honoring Christian war dead with a cross. The problem is honoring them with a cross on public land. The best solution would just be to relocate it to private property.