Family News in Focus - Congress Defends Mount Soledad Cross

January 3, 2008
by Steve Jordahl 

More than 30 members of Congress are telling a federal court they want the cross to stay, saying the government has a right to purchase the cross standing on guard over San Diego.

The cross stands as the focal point of a veterans memorial on a hill overlooking picturesque San Diego. Atheists and their allies have been in court for years, saying its very presence is a violation of the supposed separation of church and state. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice says Congress agreed to buy the memorial to place it under federal protection.

Were actually representing members of Congress in this litigation. And heres whats at issue now. The challenge is that the transfer itself violated the Establishment Clause.

The original plaintiff in the case recently died, but others, including the Freedom from Religion Foundation, have pressed the case.

We briefed an issue that the court ordered to be briefed, which was the role of Congress in this whole process, because the transfer of the property from San Diego to the federal government has now become a constitutional showdown.

Recent court decisions have affirmed the land transfer and the cross, still Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund says its important to see this battle through.

If the radical secularists are successful in stamping out these symbols of sacrifice, its really the first step to forgetting whos kept America free and whats made America great.

Not to mention the thousands of crosses, Stars of David and other religious symbols that could be banned from honoring our national heroes.