Fight For Mt. Soledad Cross Goes To Washington
WND has the latest in the fight for Mt. Soledad Cross War Memorial.
In an effort supported by Christian advocacy groups nationwide, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders met with White House lawyers in Washington, D.C., to ask President Bush to issue an executive order that would save the Mount Soledad cross after a judge ruling in a case brought by the ACLU ordered it removed.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., also discussed the issue yesterday with Vice President Dick Cheney.
Sanders told the Copley News Service the president’s lawyers “indicated it’s going to be tough to get this done and we’re going to have to work real hard, and they’ll give us as many options as they can.”
As WorldNetDaily reported, U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson ordered the city of San Diego May 3 to remove the mountain-top cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000 a day. Thompson ruled in 1991 the 29-foot structure violates the so-called “separation of church and state,” but the case has remained in courts and become an issue of public policy.
The American Family Association has launched a campaign asking citizens to send an e-mail to the president to effectively take “the case out of Judge Thompson’s hands” by signing an executive order transferring the land to the National Park Service.
The order would complete the annexation of city land first initiated by Hunter in November 2004. One month later, Congress passed legislation requesting transfer of the war memorial site to the federal park system. Last summer, 76 percent of voters in a special election in San Diego agreed to the transfer but courts, citing California law, blocked the vote.
Meanwhile, a group formed last year to save the cross, San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial, has filed papers in the U.S. District Court in San Diego asking to intervene in the case, the first step in an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The citizens group is represented by the Thomas More Law Center, which says it has “pledged to do whatever we can to save” the cross.
Charles LiMandri, West Coast regional director for the Law Center, says that after reviewing case law, he believes federal jurisdiction is much more tolerant of religious icons located on federal property.
A cross has been at the present location, in one form of another, since 1913. Sanders and many citizens consider the cross and the war memorial an important part of San Diego’s history. The battle began in 1989 when Phillip Paulsen, an atheist, filed suit, and a court ordered the city to remove the cross.
Tim Wildmon, president of American Family Association, says more than 247,000 e-mails have been sent to President Bush in nine days.
His father, AFA founder Rev. Don Wildmon, has contacted the White House about the issue.
Tim Wildmon is using his weekday show on American Family Radio, “Today’s Issues” to bring the debate to the attention listeners to more than 180 radio stations.
Jay Sekulow, head of the American Center for Law & Justice, also is asking his radio audience to communicate with the White House.
There are a lot of organizations, and more to come, getting involved to keep our history from being erased by the ACLU for the sake of one offended athiest, and a deeper agenda. They need our help. The more people that get involved, the louder the united voice will be. Do your part. Email President Bush, and tell him to transfer land to the National Park Service. Sign the ACLJ’s Petition.
Email This
Posted by Jay on May 24, 2006 7:18 am
» Filed Under ACLU, Church And State, History, News
Trackback URL:
- Wizbang: Remember
- Blue Star Chronicles: Save Mt. Soledad Cross
- Wizbang: Remember
- The Amboy Times: Save The Mt Soledad Cross!
- The Scratching Post: Help San Diego Save a Landmark
- A Rose By Any Other Name: Twisted Thinking Redux
- Blue Grass, Red State: Supreme Court Declares Atheism National Religion
- Wizbang: Remember
- Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator: Cheney may be called in CIA leak case
- Mudville Gazette: Dawn Patrol
Comments
5 Responses to “Fight For Mt. Soledad Cross Goes To Washington”
-
-
-
Affiliations
The Giants
Advertise
-
-
Our Store
- Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
-
- More blogs about the ACLU
Syndicate Me
First of all, this whole thing is ridiculous. We have a million social ills in America and people are something as insanely irrelevant as the presence or absence of a giant stick-like object has so many so captivated?
That said, I love how WingNut Daily slips in the phrase “so-called separation of church and state” as if this is a fanciful concept rather than an established one carrying the weight of countless rulings by conservative and liberal judges alike. The SCOTUS has also ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires state and local entities to adhere to the separation doctrine.
Some of you act as though you think that church-state separation in no way benefits or protect religious persons and organizations.
I also get a kick out of Jay’s mantra, today taking this form: “There are a lot of organizations, and more to come, getting involved to keep our history from being erased by the ACLU for the sake of one offended athiest, and a deeper agenda.”
Sorry, but your history is neither mine nor America’s as a whole, and history and law are distinct anyway (e.g., slavery is a big part of America’s history but no one is rushing to bring it back).
This is not about “one offended atheist.” I can’t believe anyone that short-sighted would even pretend he has any reason to take his wobbly head into the blogosphere and write a single word relating to judicial proceedings. Let the big boys handle it.
Something like 85% of people in this country are Christian, yet they believe that the other 15% are successfully waging a “war on Jesus.” All this proves is that Christians are not satisfied with anything other than complete control of the government, which is precisely why judges, realizing this sobering fact, refuse to rule in ways that would make this grisly prospect a reality.
Thanks for the update–you’re linked
“We have a million social ills in America and people are something as insanely irrelevant as the presence or absence of a giant stick-like object has so many so captivated?”
Why don’t you ask the ACLU that? They’re the ones that had it removed [edited].
“Sorry, but your history is neither mine nor America’s as a whole,”
Yes, it is, you libs just stick your fingers in your ears every time you’re educated about it. Doesn’t every president in our nation’s history publicly swear on the Bible? Isn’t that an endorsement? Doesn’t Congress pray before every session? How did those Ten Commandments get there in the courthouse in the first place? Why does all of our money say “In God We Trust”? I guess that’s all in our imagination. You’re right, our history shows no sign of goverment endorsed religion.
“Some of you act as though you think that church-state separation in no way benefits or protect religious persons and organizations.”
Like attacking the Boy Scouts because they discriminate against atheists and queers?
“That said, I love how WingNut Daily slips in the phrase “so-called separation of church and state” as if this is a fanciful concept rather than an established one carrying the weight of countless rulings by conservative and liberal judges alike.”
Once again, you quack job libs need to get this through mush brains: the Framers of the Constitution, (you know the guys who actually wrote the establishment clause)saw fit to put most of these practices the ACLU finds so horrifying into play. Obviously the establishment clause is not interpreted the way you want it to be. There is nothing unConstitutional about the cross being put anywhere. Go back to your own crap blog with your one viewer and let the grown ups talk.
“Obviously the establishment clause is not interpreted the way you want it to be.”
Actually, it is. Consistently and by judges representing the entire range of the political spectrum. Personally I wouldn’t bother with something as trivial as removing a cross from public view, but I’m not the one moaning about it. Deal with it, because this is as good as it’ll ever get for American theocracy proponents.
“Doesn’t every president in our nation’s history publicly swear on the Bible? Isn’t that an endorsement?”
Is it a particular endorsement of your religion? No. And name one president who has operated in accordance with what any “good Christian” would recognize as Bibical principles.
“Doesn’t Congress pray before every session?”
Oh, I’m sure they all give thanks to Jesus. Why don’t you survey every member of Congress and ask them what they pray for during the alloted time? Probably to avoid shooting a friend in the face or getting caught lying and cheating like Rove, DeLay, Libby et al.
“How did those Ten Commandments get there in the courthouse in the first place?”
How? Redneck judges like Roy Moore, who openly say that they couldn’t care less what the Constitution says because, they claim, Bibical laws trump actuial laws. Just the sort of mentality America needs in positions of authority.
“Why does all of our money say “In God We Trust”? I guess that’s all in our imagination. You’re right, our history shows no sign of goverment endorsed religion.”
The idea that Christians and their beliefs merit special treatment is indeed in your imagination. You obviously can’t distinguish old, rote tradition (a throwaway phrase on a dollar bill is about as secular a religious reference as you’ll find) from a hunger within the government for specifically embracing Jesus. If the latter were in effect, SCOTUS decisions would reflect as much. Yet for some crazy reason, American courts have for decades ruled in such a way as to preserve church-state separation. You bellyache hollowly about “activist judges,” but cretins who belong in a bygone century like Moore are the biggest robed activists of all. If you don’t like this, go ahead and find a welcoming Third-World country in which to to set up shop; you’d fit right in.
“…you libs just stick your fingers in your ears every time your educated about it.”
Classic. I’m not a “lib” (you wouldn’t believe it, but it’s possible to be a social conservative and reject the godly crap that’s been splattered all over the political landscape lately; just check the opinion polls, pal) but that’s beside the point. Want me to point out the irony in your statement up there, or should I wait to see if you finally pass the fourth grade this year before passing judgment?
“Is it a particular endorsement of your religion? No.”
That makes you the biggest idiot in the world. Swearing an oath on the Christian Bible publicly is about as clear an endorsement of religion there is.
“And name one president who has operated in accordance with what any “good Christian” would recognize as Bibical principles.”
What does that matter? Whether they practice Christianity or not isn’t the issue. Endorsement is. Nice strawman.
“Oh, I’m sure they all give thanks to Jesus. Why don’t you survey every member of Congress and ask them what they pray for during the alloted time? Probably to avoid shooting a friend in the face or getting caught lying and cheating like Rove, DeLay, Libby et al.”
Again irrelevant. Who they pray to, what they pray about, is irrelevant. It is still the goverment PRAYING. Last time I checked that was practicing religion, and they do it on the clock.
“The idea that Christians and their beliefs merit special treatment is indeed in your imagination.”
No, its actually in yours. We don’t ask for special treatment. We ask that morons don’t make up the Constitution as they go along, like people of your ilk seem to do. The government has endorsed religion from day one. You have no evidence to say otherwise.
“You obviously can’t distinguish old, rote tradition”
A tradition that endorses religion. Nice try.
“If you don’t like this, go ahead and find a welcoming Third-World country in which to to set up shop; you’d fit right in.”
And you’d fit right in to communist Russia, where religion was dead.
“Classic. I’m not a “lib”
Sure you are.
“just check the opinion polls, pal”
So that is where you got that advanced education you brag about so much! Polls…