For the past nineteen years, this is the debate that will not die in San Diego. I hope the latest legal ruling will help to euthanize the Mt. Soledad Cross controversy at last--but I'm not betting the rent.
Text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution :
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
No one is required to visit, acknowledge, approve of, or even look at the Mt. Soledad Cross. Logic dictates that government has safely avoided an "establishment of religion" in this case.
As to "free exercise thereof," pertaining to religion, here's a news flash for the anti-Cross atheists--Christianity counts. Christians are free to exercise their rights in expressing their religious views. No one is barred from objecting, or suing, or hampering press coverage, as the past nineteen years have proven.
Easter sunrise services on Mt. Soledad are famous, popular, packed, "peaceably assembled," and completely voluntary. My husband attended services there on a couple of Easter mornings many years ago. Although I've never attended a service there, no one in black boots has ever beaten down my front door at midnight.
"Free exercise thereof." Hmmm. So, maybe the system works?
Certainly the cantankerous atheists in town have exercised their rights to "petition the government for a redress of grievances." However, since the Mt. Soledad Cross clearly is not violating the First Amendment, they have been unsuccessful in their obsession to remove it. I join fellow San Diegans who support the Cross--by the astounding majority of 75%--in prayer that the disgruntled atheists will now just sit down and shut up. Amen.
