Thursday, June 22, 2006 | Re: Carless’ cross piece, today; I am old enough to remember the reason why the cross was mounted on top of Mount Soledad, and it had nothing to do with war memorials. It had to do with making a statement about religion and the sentiments of locals in La Jolla who wanted to “mark their territory.”
This was evident in the years following WWII when UCSD built its campus and recruited so many “non-Christian” faculty to its ranks; much of that faculty could not live in La Jolla due to the covenants and restrictions placed on the sale of real estate then; items which were not made illegal until the late 1960’s. It is why University City grew and why that area has such an intriguing Jewish tone to this day.
It is grimly amusing to see so many so-called “Christians” fulminate about their symbol and the need to protect it; had their predecessors in faith a bit more of the acceptance, kindness, compassion and inclusiveness proposed by their Jewish Galilean founder, they may not have faced indifference to their symbol – and stance – now.
As it is, for too many people over too many centuries, that symbol is not one of love and faith, but of oppression, discrimination and murder. If those who want to put religion in a better light to the masses are smart, they’d live and work in ways to make it more attractive to more people. But given the current crop of Bible thumpers, their odious mouthpiece, Roger Hedgecock and the laughable Charles LiMandri, its safe to say that their so-called ideals will remain in the same sad state until Hell freezes over and the space atop Mount Soledad becomes – a Starbucks.