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swampfox
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Mount Soledad
I GREW UP in San Diego, in a cookie-cutter suburban tract on the southern slope of Mount Soledad.
Anyone who has ever been to San Diego would immediately recognize this mountain–it is one of the most prominent natural features in the city, whose summit can be seen for miles in every direction. Mount Soledad rises steeply from the Pacific Ocean, marking a natural boundary between the ritzy community of La Jolla on the north flank, and the more laid back Pacific Beach and Mission Bay neighborhoods to the south.
Frequent visitors from Los Angeles and points north know that they’ve “arrived” in San Diego when they drive past Mount Soledad’s steep eastern slope on Interstate 5. You know the one; it’s the mountain with the big white cross on top.
But not for much longer.
The Mount Soledad cross must go, the San Diego City Council said yesterday. The 16-year saga of whether the cross would stay on public land in La Jolla came to an emotional conclusion last night as the council voted 5-3 to reject a last-ditch effort to keep it in place.
I don’t claim to be a legal scholar. But I don’t understand why this cross, which was erected over 50 years ago as the centerpiece of a veterans’ memorial, is such a serious affront to our civil rights that it must be removed from public land.
I seriously doubt that anybody driving by on the freeway has ever felt compelled, upon seeing this cross, to become a practicing Christian. I lived “down the hill” from this landmark for the first eight years of my life, and I can testify that it had absolutely zero impact on our family’s attendance at church. Indeed, on any given Sunday, we were much more likely to be praying to the Holy Trinity of Fouts, Joiner, and Winslow, than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, a small group of San Diegans, led by atheist activist Philip Paulson, has been trying since 1989 to get this offensive symbol removed from public land. And yesterday, after almost sixteen years of legal wrangling, the San Diego City Council finally folded—just like they did when the ACLU pressured them to evict the Boy Scouts from Balboa Park.
This saddens me.
That cross isn’t threatening anyone. To an atheist, it is just an inanimate object. But to me, it is a landmark. As a youth, I rode my bike around that cross. As a teenager, I rested at the foot of the memorial after a strenuous conditioning run with my high school track team. As a young man, I brought my bride to see the memorial when we moved here after our wedding. The location of that cross is noted on nautical charts used by the Navy—you can see it from several miles out to sea.
Now that Paulson has achieved this victory, what other religious symbols will he have removed from public land?
Perhaps the cross on the statue of Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who discovered San Diego Bay in 1542? Or how about the many crosses that can be found in the Spanish Colonial architecture around Balboa Park?
Shall we remove the cross that stands on the site of the San Diego Presidio, which was erected in 1920 using stones salvaged from the ruins of the original structure?
What about the Yokohama Friendship Bell at Shelter Island—or do Shinto symbols get a pass? There are also several Buddhist and Shinto elements incorporated into the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. That’s public land, too.
Shall we demolish the historic San Diego Mission itself?
While we’re at it, why don’t we just change the name of the city? San Diego, after all, was named after the Catholic Saint Didacus of Alcala. Isn’t our city’s very name a violation of the establishment clause?
Just how far do we have to go, to protect these poor atheists from being offended?
How much of our heritage must we erase?
Mount Soledad
I GREW UP in San Diego, in a cookie-cutter suburban tract on the southern slope of Mount Soledad.
Anyone who has ever been to San Diego would immediately recognize this mountain–it is one of the most prominent natural features in the city, whose summit can be seen for miles in every direction. Mount Soledad rises steeply from the Pacific Ocean, marking a natural boundary between the ritzy community of La Jolla on the north flank, and the more laid back Pacific Beach and Mission Bay neighborhoods to the south.
Frequent visitors from Los Angeles and points north know that they’ve “arrived” in San Diego when they drive past Mount Soledad’s steep eastern slope on Interstate 5. You know the one; it’s the mountain with the big white cross on top.
But not for much longer.
The Mount Soledad cross must go, the San Diego City Council said yesterday. The 16-year saga of whether the cross would stay on public land in La Jolla came to an emotional conclusion last night as the council voted 5-3 to reject a last-ditch effort to keep it in place.
I don’t claim to be a legal scholar. But I don’t understand why this cross, which was erected over 50 years ago as the centerpiece of a veterans’ memorial, is such a serious affront to our civil rights that it must be removed from public land.
I seriously doubt that anybody driving by on the freeway has ever felt compelled, upon seeing this cross, to become a practicing Christian. I lived “down the hill” from this landmark for the first eight years of my life, and I can testify that it had absolutely zero impact on our family’s attendance at church. Indeed, on any given Sunday, we were much more likely to be praying to the Holy Trinity of Fouts, Joiner, and Winslow, than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, a small group of San Diegans, led by atheist activist Philip Paulson, has been trying since 1989 to get this offensive symbol removed from public land. And yesterday, after almost sixteen years of legal wrangling, the San Diego City Council finally folded—just like they did when the ACLU pressured them to evict the Boy Scouts from Balboa Park.
This saddens me.
That cross isn’t threatening anyone. To an atheist, it is just an inanimate object. But to me, it is a landmark. As a youth, I rode my bike around that cross. As a teenager, I rested at the foot of the memorial after a strenuous conditioning run with my high school track team. As a young man, I brought my bride to see the memorial when we moved here after our wedding. The location of that cross is noted on nautical charts used by the Navy—you can see it from several miles out to sea.
Now that Paulson has achieved this victory, what other religious symbols will he have removed from public land?
Perhaps the cross on the statue of Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who discovered San Diego Bay in 1542? Or how about the many crosses that can be found in the Spanish Colonial architecture around Balboa Park?
Shall we remove the cross that stands on the site of the San Diego Presidio, which was erected in 1920 using stones salvaged from the ruins of the original structure?
What about the Yokohama Friendship Bell at Shelter Island—or do Shinto symbols get a pass? There are also several Buddhist and Shinto elements incorporated into the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. That’s public land, too.
Shall we demolish the historic San Diego Mission itself?
While we’re at it, why don’t we just change the name of the city? San Diego, after all, was named after the Catholic Saint Didacus of Alcala. Isn’t our city’s very name a violation of the establishment clause?
Just how far do we have to go, to protect these poor atheists from being offended?
How much of our heritage must we erase?
