Religious right campaigns to keep cross on San Diego's Mt. Soledad
Continued from main page about religious displays on public property. (Go back)
'The moment of truth is upon us,' Aguirre says
By Onell R. Soto and Craig Gustafson, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 22, 2006
 An appeals court decision yesterday narrowed the city of San Diego's options for keeping the Mount Soledad cross in place to a last, shot-in-the-dark chance before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined yesterday to step in and suspend a $5,000 daily fine that a federal judge will impose on the city if the cross isn't removed from city property by Aug. 1. Continue
 San Diego to Appeal to Keep Mt. Soledad Cross
by Pete Winn, Focus on the Family, June 23, 2006
A citizen's group is asking for your help in keeping a 50-year-old symbol on public land.
Continue
Prayer Vigil in Front of White House in Support of Mt. Soledad Cross and Religious Expression in the Public Square
News release, Christian Defense Coalition, June 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- Organizations to have prayer vigil in front of the White House in support of Mt. Soledad Cross and religious expression in the public square. Continue
Faith and Action rallies its forces
Rebecca Go, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 1, 2006
Ever since atheist Phillip Paulson sued for its removal in 1989, the reinforced concrete cross that sits atop La Jolla's Mount Soledad has been a rallying symbol for various Christian groups fighting to save it.
Although the 17-year case may finally be winding to a close, yet another religious organization recently leaped into the fray – one with a national profile and a track record of attention-grabbing activism.
The Rev. Rob Schenck announced in March that he and his Faith and Action organization will mobilize support for the cross, along with his friend and colleague, the Rev. Pat Mahoney, and the Christian Defense Coalition. Continue
San Diego: City appeals judge's cross ruling, seeks delay in fines
By Angelica Martinez, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 2, 2006
SAN DIEGO – Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Friday that the city had filed an appeal of a federal judge's order to remove the cross from Mount Soledad as part of the city's efforts to preserve the landmark.
Friday was the city's deadline to either appeal a federal judge's order to remove the cross or face $5,000 fines for each day it remains on publicly owned land. Continue
Parents of Fallen Marine Ask Bush to Federalize Mt. Soledad Memorial Site
Request, If Granted, Could Save Historic Cross from Being Moved
James L. Lambert, Agape Press, June 12, 2006
The parents of a Marine who died in Iraq last November say that they would like the National Park Service to take over the Mt. Soledad war memorial site in La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego, California.
Robert and Sybil Martino are requesting that two military veterans currently in Congress -- Senator John McCain and Representative Duncan Hunter -- approach President Bush on this matter. The war memorial site, constructed in 1954, includes a 29-foot cross which is the center of a 17-year legal dispute involving an atheist, his lawyer James McElory, and the City of San Diego. Continue
Mahoney Hails City's Vote to Appeal Mt. Soledad Cross Removal Order
By Allie Martin, AgapePress June 2, 2006
"Pat Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, has been a vocal advocate for those seeking to preserve the Mount Soledad cross. He says the courts that have been involved in the matter are misguided about the legality of the symbol." Click for the article.
Removal of cross looms over ceremony honoring veterans
By Dani Dodge, San Diego Union-Tribune, May 30, 2006
LA JOLLA – The Mount Soledad cross stood as a stoic witness to the pride and heroism remembered in a solemn Memorial Day service yesterday. Not even the white pigeons released at the end of the annual event soared above its 43-foot-high white pinnacle.
And while the service was dedicated solely to the veterans, the controversial cross was the subtext of speeches and the draw for many who attended. Continue
Battle For The Cross Rages In San Diego
Traditional Values Coalition email, May 25, 2006
The Traditional Values Coalition used District Judge Gordon Thompson's ruling that the cross must be removed to encourage its followers to get invoved with its "Battle Plan" against "judicial tyranny." This is the entire text of the group's email.
May 25, 2006 – A federal judge in San Diego has ordered that the city remove a cross from the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial or face a fine of $5000 a day. The cross has been on Mt. Soledad in one form or another since 1913. In 1989, an atheist filed a lawsuit with the help of the ACLU to have the cross removed. The ACLU claimed it violated the separation of church and state.
San Diegans voted in 2005 to have the city transfer the cross and the park to the National Park Service but the court blocked the sale. U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson will apparently permit only one action: removal of the cross.
The Thomas More Law Center is representing a citizen’s group to protect the cross. One of its latest goals is to petition President Bush to sign an executive order to seize this land under eminent domain to protect the war memorial and the cross from the ACLU and from activist judges.
Read and distribute TVC’s resources on judicial tyranny on our Battle Plan web site. Urge your legislators to pass the “We, The People Act,” to prevent federal judges from issuing rulings dealing with religious freedom!
Cross in San Diego must go in 90 days, judge rules
By Erin Roach, Baptist Press, May 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO (BP)--The fight is “far from over,” a Southern Baptist pastor said after a federal judge told the city of San Diego to remove a 29-foot-high cross from public grounds within 90 days or pay $5,000 for each day it remains part of a war memorial in a hilltop park.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. upheld a decision he handed down in 1991 when he ruled that the cross’ existence on city property was unconstitutional. Continue
City has 90 days to remove Mt. Soledad cross
Judge threatens fine to enforce '91 ruling
By Onell R. Soto, San Diego Union-Tribune, May 4, 2006
A federal judge moved to end a 17-year legal saga yesterday by ordering the city of San Diego to remove the Mount Soledad cross from city property within 90 days or be fined $5,000 a day. Continue
A Cross Atop Mt. Soledad
Jody Brown, Agape Press, May 9, 2006
Responding to a judicial ruling it says ignored the law as well as the will of President Bush, Congress, and local citizens, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) says the final chapter has not yet been written about a mountaintop cross in San Diego. Last week, U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson ordered that the cross atop Mt. Soledad, which has been an integral part of a veterans war memorial since it was erected in 1954, be removed within 90 days or face fines of $5,000 per day thereafter. Continue
Judge refuses hearing on Soledad cross
San Diego Union-Tribune, October 31, 2005
SAN DIEGO – A judge refused today to hold a hearing for groups that want her to vacate an earlier ruling that the city of San Diego's transfer of the Mount Soledad cross to the federal government is unconstitutional.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett ruled on Oct. 7 that Proposition A – passed by voters on July 26 – was invalid and unenforceable. Click here for the report
1991 Federal Court order to remove the cross
To read this large PDF file on the site of the San Diego Union-Tribune please click here.
Jewish Sight Seeing: The Cross on Mt. Soledad
Donald H. Harrison, San Diego Jewish Life-Heritage, via JewishSightSeeing.com, June 26, 1998
 "The cross has been the subject of litigation between the City of San Diego and Philip Paulson, representing a group of atheists who contend that its presence on city-owned property violates constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state.
"At first, the City of San Diego disagreed with the assertion that the cross was by its very nature a religious symbol. The city's attorneys suggested in response to the court suit that the cross was merely a war memorial. In litigation that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, it was ruled that the cross was in fact a religious symbol, and therefore did not belong as the centerspiece of a public park." Click here for the report
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