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Thursday, June 8, 2006 | The cross atop Mount Soledad is not an issue of government sponsoring one religion over another. It’s an issue of the government sponsoring no religion over another, and I don’t mean that the government is being egalitarian in regards to religion – no – I mean that it is sponsoring atheism/agnosticism over all other forms of religion.
I remember back to my high school days, in my economics/political science class, and we had a speaker come from the ACLU to explain to us what they were all about. She talked about how the ACLU defends people who burn flags, defend the KKK’s right to congregate, and anyone else who is a victim of infringement on First Amendment rights. She said, “If you don’t like free speech, the answer is not censorship… the answer to free speech is more speech” In the case of the cross on Mount. Soledad, the ACLU is hoist on their own petard.
If the ACLU really believed that the answer to free speech is more speech, they wouldn’t be tearing down the cross (censorship)…they would be finding other suitable mountains in San Diego and erecting a Buddha on top of one, a crescent moon and star on another, and a Star of David on another (more speech). If we’re going by mountaintop adornment, in the united states, atheists are over-represented; there are far too many mountains with nothing on them – nothing; a symbol representing a lack of belief (atheism).
All this is personal but, from a legal standpoint, the Mount Soledad war memorial still holds the deed for the half-acre parcel atop the mountain. If possession is still nine-tenths of the law, the city can’t be sued for not removing a cross on property that they don’t own.
The validity of the sale hasn’t yet been voided by the courts, nor has the city given a refund of the purchase price to the Soledad Memorial.