Judge Orders San Diego Cross Removed

Posted on May 3, 2006

Ruling on a 15-year-old ACLU case, a federal judge today ordered the city of San Diego to remove a mountain-top cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000 a day.

U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson said, “It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad cross on city property,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Thompson ruled in 1991 the Mount Soledad cross violates the so-called “separation of church and state” but the case has remained in courts and become an issue of public policy for more than a decade.

ACLU lawyer James McElroy believes San Diego officials finally will give up their fight.

“I don’t think the city has its heart in taking more action,” he said, according to the paper.

A city lawyer argued during the hour-long court hearing today that citizens had voted for transfer of the land under the cross.

Proposition A, passed by 75 percent in July, called for the city to donate the cross to the federal government as the centerpiece of a veterans memorial.

The ballot initiative came about after the city refused to donate the cross and memorial to the federal government. A group called San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial took just 23 days to gather 105,000 signatures.

In a ruling now on appeal, however, a Superior Court judge found the transfer unconstitutional.

The Union-Tribune said the group behind the public vote on transfer likely will appeal Thompson’s decision.

The 29-foot cross has stood on Mount Soledad as the center of a war memorial on city land since 1954. The first cross on the site was built in 1913.

A bill authorizing the federal government to take over the memorial was authored by Republican U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter and Randy Cunningham. President Bush signed the bill into law in December.

The ACLU are constantly seeking to censor America’s history. In my interview with former ACLU lawyer, Rees Lloyd, it was described to me with clarity.

Lloyd said:

The ACLU has become a fanatical anti-faith Taliban of American religious secularism.”
“The ACLU is involved in the secular cleansing of our history. This is not just a fight about free exercise, but about the protection of our American history. The ACLU want to deny America the knowledge of their Christian heritage.”

Or, as Alan Sears says: The ACLU is America’s number one religious censor.
The ACLU and the judicial activists are destroying our heritage, and they are doing it with our tax dollars. Join us, and the American Legion to urge Congress to put a stop to this. Support Congressman Hostettler’s legislation to stop taxpayer funding of the ACLU.
Sign the Petition To Stop Taxpayer Funding of the ACLU.
This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board
Also see Independent’s post The Desecration Of A Veterans’ Memorial.

Just how far do we have to go, to protect these poor atheists from being offended?

How much of our heritage must we erase?

Also see ” target=”_blank”>Blogs For Bush

» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Church And State, News

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Comments

2 Responses to “Judge Orders San Diego Cross Removed”

Peace Moonbeam on May 4th, 2006 10:19 am

Wow, It’s a good thing they’re finally removing that cross. I can’t imagine the amount of damage it has probably done to the sensitivities of hell-bound individuals everywhere.
Relentlessly, the hordes of Godless lawyers at the ACLU continue to advance their father’s kingdom.
tony on May 5th, 2006 11:54 pm

I wonder why those people complaining that the Supreme Court improperly incorporated the establishment clause to the states through the 14th amendment don’t simply advance a constitutional amendment to undo such rulings.