The cross sits atop Mount Soledad in La Jolla, California and it has served as the site for Christian religious observances, including Easter services, and baptisms since 1913. It is officially referred to, as "The Mt. Soledad Easter Cross," or simply, "The Easter Cross." It now belongs to the United States government! That is right people a national cross...have you worshipped yet today?
Some say it is a memorial and has a right to exist but the fact is that this religious symbol on the hilltop had no plaques installed until decades later. Not until after a 1989 lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of a Christian cross on public property was argued. It was at this time it was transformed to appear as a veteran memorial.
A small plaque was placed at the site, and it was not until ten years after that, in 2000, that an American flag and a series of granite walls displaying individual veterans' plaques were added.
The California constitution in Article 16 Section 5 states this:
SEC. 5. Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, hospital, or other institution controlled by any religious creed, church, or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the State, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section 3 of Article XVI.
Now take notice of the particular part that states, " nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the State, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever;" A state park containing a symbol of any religion obviously violates this section. This is a black and white case, right? Well, I would think so but it wasn't. It became a battle for the next 15+ years.
Now in 1954 the San Diego City Council granted permission to the MSMA (Mt. Soledad Memorial Association) to reconstruct the cross. The association privately raises money and accepts donations and they pay for the construction of the 29-foot cross. Now at this time the cross is dedicated on Easter Sunday, a Christian holiday to veterans. Since the first Easter service at the cross the city has permitted them to have every Easter at the cross to conduct a sunrise service. There was no application for holding ceremonies on Veterans Day or Memorial Day on record until Phillip Paulson filed a suit.
In 1989 Phillip Paulson filed a lawsuit claiming that having a religious symbol on public state land violates the United States Constitution and the California Constitution prohibiting the government from favoring one religion over another. There is no Star of David present on public land to favor the Jewish faith or any other symbol favoring any other religions. We know though the cross is the symbol of Christianity.
JUSTICE KENNEDY, Circuit Justice wrote,
In this long-running federal-court litigation the United States District Court for the Southern District of California has ordered that, within 90 days of May 3, 2006, the city of San Diego, California, must comply with an earlier injunction, affirmed on appeal, that barred the city from maintaining a prominent Latin cross at a veterans' memorial on city property. The premise of the injunction was that the cross' permanent presence there violates the California State Constitution.
The source for that can be read at Murphy v. Bilbray, 782 F. Supp. 1420, 1438.
1991 he wins his suit and a subsequent 9th Circuit decision. Federal District Court Judge Gordon Thompson notes that the cross being permanently placed inside a state park that it violated the California state Constitution. The same year the San Diego Historical Site Board declares the cross and the surrounding park as historical sites.
1993 the city tries to sell the parcel of land, however the district court stated that the sale was unconstitutional, quoted, "It is apparent to the Court that the primary purpose for the sale...was to save the Mt. Soledad cross from removal or destruction." That violates the no preference clause (of preference for a particular religion) that is in the California Constitution.
In 1994,
The city appeals for the case to be heard en banc, that is, by the entire 28-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The city is granted a hearing, but again loses by a unanimous vote. The city petitions the U.S. Supreme Court with a Writ of Certiorari. The Court denies a review, allowing the 9th Circuit decision to hear its appeal to stand.
In 1997 Judge Thompson rules the sale of the land did in fact violate the California Constitution by showing favor to the Christians. He wrote,
"Both the method of sale and the amount of land sold underneath the
Mt. Soledad cross do not cure the constitutional infirmities outlined in this Court's previous Order."
1998 the city tries another way to save the cross and circumvent the ruling previously made several times throughout the years. They put the land and cross up for bid. MSMA won the bid with $104,000.
Paulson has his attorney file a motion in 1999 to enforce the ruling previously made. They argue that the bid sale was a calculated attempt to get around the previous ruling. The ACLU decides to join Paulson's effort the same year.
The following year, 2000, a district court judge upholds the transfer of the land and cross over to MSMA. The Mt. Soledad Memorial Association (MSMA) begun to construct the granite walls that will hold plaques honoring veterans of the military. An American flag is placed at the cross this same year. These were the first additions to the site that would show the honoring of veterans.
The year 2002 the 9th circuit court of appeals publishes an opinion urging that the constitutional infirmities remain. The ruling,
"In view of our holding in Ellis that the Mt. Soledad cross is a sectarian symbol that conveys a religious message, government conduct that operates affirmatively to preserve the cross aided a sectarian purpose: the preservation of a symbol that conveys a specifically Christian message."
The city again appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court but they refuse to hear the case in the same year.
In 2004 Randy Cunningham and Duncan Hunter of congress slip into a $300 billion appropriations bill a portion that is designating the memorial as a national monument and it specifically requires the continued presence of this cross. A restraining order bars the transfer to the federal ownership temporarily.
In 2005 there was a California Superior Court judge that rules,
the proposition and the transfer are unconstitutional, finding that "...one conclusion is inescapable: this transfer is again an unconstitutional preference of the Christian religion to the exclusion of other religions and non-religious beliefs in violation of the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution. Further, the City's attempt to go so far as to transfer away valuable land for no compensation for the purpose of saving the cross is also an unconstitutional aid to the Christian religion in violation of the California Constitution."
So over the years the city has been defying court rulings. So finally in 2006 Federal District Court Judge Gordon Thompson (made the 1991 ruling) decides to enforce the initial ruling and gives the city 90 days to remove the cross or face a fine of $5,000 a day. The city appeals to the Supreme Court and the summer of 2006 Justice Kennedy issues a temporary stay to give the court time to decide whether to hear the case.
August 14, 2006 George W. Bush places his signature on a bill that transfers the Mt. Soledad cross to federal control.
So the United States government now owns a cross that is a symbol of Christianity. I am a Christian but this bothers me a great deal. Separation of Church and State doesn't seem to exist anymore and it seems to me that this ownership of a national cross can lead to implementing a national religion.
Just because they say it is a memorial doesn't make it so. The intent of this cross being put in place in the beginning was so that Christians could go to the cross and worship at the site on Easter. Easter is a Christian holiday. They intended to worship Jesus Christ the messiah and it had NOTHING to do with veterans from any war.
The founding fathers felt it necessary to have separation of church and state so that European history where religion was concerned would not be repeated here. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Danbury Baptists Association around 1802. People during this time describe what a man seeking power could do if he were entitled to use religion in his way to create laws for the land. This was a large fear that European religious history would repeat itself.
In 1802 Thomas Jeffereson wrote a letter to Danbury Baptists Association and it stated this,
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Now again we have George W. Bush not giving a shit about laws! He has now purchases a national cross for our federal government and I believe we better start on the grassroots level to get this overturned somehow if we can. The next thing will be a national religion under that national cross owned by our federal government.
Source
California Constitution Source