Apparently, a cross, which is the preeminent symbol of Christianity, is now also a symbol of American patriotism.
At least according to a federal judge in California, who ruled yesterday that the Latin cross atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego is not considered a religious symbol and can be mounted on federal government land.
For decades, this cross has been the subject of several lawsuits, all ending with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requiring the removal of the cross. But a coalition of religious and civic organizations trying to “save” the cross, called the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association (MSMA), continuously discovered new ways to evade the courts’ rulings.
Initially, the cross stood alone and was often the location for Easter Sunday services. In 1994, in light of the 9th Circuit’s rulings, MSMA surrounded the cross with secular and other religious messages, including the American flag, granite memorial plaques recognizing individual veterans, and religious imagery such as the Star of David and emblems of other religions. But according to the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit, the 43-foot-tall Latin cross towers above the rest of the memorial.
In 2004, a federal court finally told the city of San Diego (and MSMA) to move the cross from public to private land, and “comply with the laws of our great country instead of trying to find sneaky ways to get around them to pander to a certain group or to satisfy an out-of-state group’s religious agenda.”
In its last attempt to evade the 9th Circuit’s decisions to remove the cross, MSMA successfully lobbied Congress to acquire the land for the federal government and to preserve the cross as part of a veteran’s memorial.
In ruling that the cross atop Mt. Soledad is not a religious symbol, U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns said, “[t]he actual purpose of the monument is…to inspire patriotism and recognize those who died while serving our country, and to provide solace to the families of the veterans it memorializes…Because the Court has found Congress’ articulation of its purpose was bona fide, and not a sham to disguise ulterior religious motives, the actual purpose of memorial continues to be secular as Congress intended.”
But the Latin cross originated as a symbol of the Christian faith. How can this symbol provide solace to families of veterans from all different faiths or no faith at all? How is the central symbol of the Christian faith secular?
The veterans who this memorial stands for fought for a country that would not exclude them based on their religious beliefs. This ruling dishonors veterans of other faiths or no faith by allowing the government to make a particular religion’s symbol a national symbol.
The ACLU will decide whether to appeal the case to the 9th Circuit in the next 60 days, so we may not have seen the last of this long-running case. Here’s hoping the 9th Circuit issues yet another opinion calling for removal of the cross.
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