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Mt. Soledad Memorial
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Is the ACLU against religion in the public
square?
Absolutely not.
Churches, religious institutions, individuals, and families all have the
constitutionally protected right to express their religious beliefs in the
public square. Religious symbols
are pervasive and are constitutionally protected in the public realm. Families
have a right to display religious symbols on their homes.
Individuals and their families have the right to display religious
symbols on gravestones, whether in Federal or private cemeteries. Many
other forms of religious expression in the public sphere also are constitutionally
protected. The public airways are filled with
religious messages broadcast by preachers and televangelists. Books, magazines,
and newspapers are printed and distributed by commercial and religious publishers
and are delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
Missionaries and street preachers share their faith door-to-door and on
public sidewalks. People have the
right to wear religious symbols and attire in public. The ACLU has and will
continue to ensure that such constitutional rights for religious communities
and individuals are fully protected.
The ACLU is definitely opposed, however, to putting the government in charge of deciding which religious symbols and expressions should be endorsed and financed. A cross in front of a church is perfectly fine. The same cross on a courthouse lawn is unconstitutional.
One of the most frequent mischaracterizations about the ACLU is that it is opposed to religious symbols in the public square. The ACLU is opposed to government promotion, financing, and endorsing of religion in the public square, and we think most Americans probably agree.
What is a “Latin”cross, like the one on Mt.
Soledad?
There are many different forms of Christian crosses. The “Latin cross” largely originated
with the Roman Catholic Church. It
has a long vertical pole and a shorter horizontal cross (†) and it thus differs,
for example, from the equal-length Greek Orthodox Cross (+) or the other early
form known as the Tau cross (T).
There are several other forms of the cross that are recognized by other
Christian denominations, including the Patriarchal cross (with three cross bars)
and the Russian Orthodox cross (also with three cross bars but with the lowest
attached at an angle). Thus the
Latin cross atop Mt. Soledad is not a “generic” cross for Christianity, but one
that is recognized by some, but not all, Christian denominations. In addition, many Christians do not use
any form of the cross as a symbol of their religion. And, of course, non-Christian
religions and non-believers do not accept any form of the cross as symbolizing
their beliefs.
What’s wrong with the Mt. Soledad
cross?
Nothing is wrong with religious groups and individuals
respecting or revering a Latin cross like the one atop Mt. Soledad. (For
the meaning of “Latin” cross, see
the question above). It is their
constitutionally protected right to do so.
The problem is not the cross or its visibility. The problem is that it
is a
government cross located on government property and that it is
maintained and financed by the government. The government should
be respecting the religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) of all of its citizens. By
choosing one sectarian sign, it shows unfair and unnecessary favoritism towards
some.
The Mt. Soledad Latin Cross is clearly a symbol of a particular religion, and is venerated by many because of what it represents. The Latin cross is the most widely recognized symbol of Christianity, and is associated with the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Yet many of those who support the government owning and displaying the cross feign that it is a “neutral symbol” designed to honor all of America’s war dead. They do not explain how their preferred religious symbols honor America’s veterans who do not share the same religious beliefs, and who gave their lives for their country and not for the Latin cross.
Is there anything wrong with religious
symbols on gravestones in military cemeteries such as Arlington
Cemetery?
Once again,
absolutely not. Veterans and their
families are entitled to have the individual religious beliefs of veterans
recognized on headstones in military cemeteries.
There is a myth -- popular with many who have little concern for the truth -- that the ACLU opposes religious symbols on headstones. To the contrary, the ACLU’s position is that every veteran’s family should have the right to decide which religion or belief symbol should be placed on gravestones.
Should popular majorities decide which
religious symbols are endorsed and erected on government property?
Of
course not.
Popular majorities are the right way to decide who should win elections
and whether a referendum should be approved or not. But popular majorities
should not decide which political opinions are protected by the First Amendment
and which may be suppressed. Nor should they decide
which religious symbols the government should be promoting and which the
government should suppress.
But what about the Mt. Soledad referendum in San
Diego?
There were two Mt.
Soledad referenda in San Diego.
Supporters of the federal government seizure of the Mt. Soledad Latin
cross emphasize one, but not the other.
More San Diegans voted to reject the transfer of the city land
under the cross to a private entity only eight months before the
much-referred-to July 2005 vote, in which 76 percent approved a transfer of city
land to the federal government. In
November 2004, in a general election, 256,745 voters rejected a proposition to
transfer the portion of land underneath the cross to the Mount Soledad Memorial
Association. These votes surpass
the “aye” votes in the July 2005 election by nearly 60,000. In
fact, the total number of votes in July 2005 (259,498) was only slightly higher
than the total number of “no” votes
in November 2004. So it is
disingenuous at best for politicians and others to maintain that the vast
majority of San Diegans prefer the cross to remain on government
land.
Many local politicians support the Mt.
Soledad Memorial
No politician wants to be seen as being against a religious
symbol that is so widely revered.
(Politicians in other countries do the very same thing -- except the
symbols are different.) Some use it
to gain political support; others are afraid of a backlash. Some obviously
think it is a good idea.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre, quoted in The New York Times about the cross being on public land noted that the case has gone on for so long primarily because city officials have found political opportunity in defying court rulings. “It’s like San Diego doesn’t recognize the need to comply with the law as a fundamental principle,” he said. [New York Times, “High on a Hill Above San Diego, a Church-State Fight Plays Out,” October 1, 2005.] Ironically, despite declaring the government-sponsored memorial unconstitutional, Aguirre has joined city officials in full force in the U.S. Supreme Court appeal to keep the cross on government land.
What do local religious leaders think about
the cross?
There are thousands of opinions about this. Some think
of the issue more in religious terms rather than constitutional terms.
Several Christian leaders wrote a theological reflection on the Mt. Soledad issue, and concluded that “any form of Christian “dominionism” or political “exceptionalism” is precluded” by Scripture (the kenosis passage, Phil 2: 5-11), and that to “use the cross as a tool to aggress upon others or to rally people for a political end, then we have turned the symbol into its opposite and publicly distorted its meaning.”
Rabbi Scott Meltzer, of La Jolla’s Ohr Shalom Synagogue, said the Mt. Soledad issue troubles him, and that there is a lack of understanding about how dangerous it is for a government to align itself with a particular religious symbol. “It doesn’t create a friendly environment for me as a Jew and for people of other faiths,” he said. “Were our government to present or speak or teach Jewishly, I would be very troubled.
So does this mean that the Mt. Soledad cross must be
destroyed?
The problem is not the religious symbol. The problem
is the government getting involved and endorsing and sponsoring this symbol. Those
who truly wish to save the Mt. Soledad cross have a perfectly constitutional
solution, which the ACLU -- and the
former litigants in the 17-year lawsuit, according to a settlement agreement
reached in 2004 -- support: move the cross to a non-governmental site.
What kind of memorials for veterans would be
constitutional?
There are many types of memorial that would be perfectly
constitutional. We should aim for
memorials that honor all veterans and their sacrifices (and not just
those of a particular religious, political, or racial background).
A really good example is the Iwo Jima Memorial. The American flag is the symbol under which they fought and died -- not the symbol of any of their religions.