Federal Judge Says Cross Can Remain on San Diego's Mt. Soledad

July 31, 2008

Author: Jia-Rui Chong

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-cross31-2008jul31,0,6069679.story

A controversial cross on Mt. Soledad in San Diego can stay as part of a federally owned war memorial, a federal judge ruled.

"The court finds the memorial at Mt. Soledad, including its Latin cross, communicates the primarily nonreligious messages of military service, death and sacrifice," wrote U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns in his decision filed Tuesday. "As such, despite its location on public land, the memorial is constitutional."

An official with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents several of the plaintiffs in the case, including the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, voiced disappointment in the decision. Lawyers for the group had contended that including the cross in a government park violated the principle of the separation of church and state.