{"id":2597,"date":"2009-12-11T00:35:46","date_gmt":"2009-12-11T08:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2009-12-16T07:37:28","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T15:37:28","slug":"mount-soledad-cross-case-at-appeals-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/11\/mount-soledad-cross-case-at-appeals-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Soledad Cross Case at Appeals Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decades-long battle to remove the Mount Soledad cross from the hills of San Diego is once again at the appeals court.\u00a0 In various formats, lawsuits have challenged the Mount Soledad cross for years<\/a>.\u00a0 In this most recent iteration<\/a>,\u00a0the US District\u00a0court in July 2008 ruled in favor of those who support the cross remaining at\u00a0its current\u00a0location.<\/p>\n

The basic complaint is that the cross is an inherently religious symbol, and by sustaining it on public land, the US government violates the Constitutional prohibition against “establishing” a religion.<\/p>\n

The ACLU, which\u00a0is representing the plaintiffs, has had to defend itself against accusations that it wants to remove crosses (and any memorials with them)\u00a0from all public lands–including military cemeteries.\u00a0 An attorney for the American Legion<\/a>, which is defending the cross, said<\/p>\n

Tearing down this veterans\u2019 memorial would be a disgrace…It would not only dishonor those who have spilled their blood and given the ultimate sacrifice for their country, but it would open up veterans memorials nationwide to attack.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On its website, the ACLU answers this controversy with this FAQ<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Why does the ACLU want to remove crosses from federal cemeteries?
\n<\/em><\/strong>The ACLU has never pursued the removal of religious symbols from personal gravestones…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It emphasizes “personal gravestones” throughout the response, ignoring legitimate concerns about “crosses [in] federal cemeteries” that are not<\/em> personal gravestones.\u00a0 For example, the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery<\/a> is also<\/em> a war memorial, just as the Mount Soledad Cross is.\u00a0 It is no more defensible.\u00a0 If the ACLU wins its case against the Mount Soledad Cross, the Argonne Cross will have no legal defense and, at least legally, should also be taken down.\u00a0 Thus, while the ACLU may not complain about “personal gravestones,” it leaves open the possiblity that it does<\/em> want to remove “crosses from federal cemeteries”–including the hallowed grounds of Arlington.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to predict how the case will play out judicially.\u00a0 While courts are sensitive to religious offense to the Constitution, there has also been disdain expressed at the thought of those who seem to scour America for potentially religious symbols associated with the government, seemingly in search of offense.\u00a0 The expression of a religion, or even the display of a religious symbol, while in remote association with the government remains a controversial (even if contrived) issue.<\/p>\n

In a somewhat related case, a ruling is awaited from the Supreme Court on the Mojave Cross<\/a> after arguments were heard in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decades-long battle to remove the Mount Soledad cross from the hills of San Diego is once again at the appeals court.\u00a0 In various formats, lawsuits have challenged the Mount Soledad cross for years.\u00a0 In this most recent iteration,\u00a0the US District\u00a0court in July 2008 ruled in favor of those who support the cross remaining at\u00a0its current\u00a0location. The basic complaint is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12,4,82,19,2,10,40],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-aclu","tag-churchandstate","tag-constitution","tag-government","tag-military","tag-religion","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}