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The cross atop Mount Soledad in the riches-stricken La Jolla suburb of San Diego stands as testimony to the founding of the city by Father Junípero Serra, a Catholic priest who was the first Christian missionary in California. San Diego has since become the seventh largest city in America and the second largest in California, but its development would have been much different if Father Serra had not sunk the first cross in San Diego soil back in 1769.

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The cross on Mt Soledad in the La Jolla suburb of San Diego.

But the symbol on Mount Soledad is going to be destroyed in 90 days if alleged atheists, bigots, prowling lawyers, anti-Christian hate-mongers and the American Civil Liberties Union have their way. U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson has ordered the city of San Diego to remove the Mount Soledad cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000 each day it is left standing.

When the cross was erected on Mount Soledad in 1954, it was a symbol of the rich Christian past of San Diego, but it later became identified with the sacrifice of American fighting men and women. It was always a fitting tribute since, in the minds of many, San Diego will always be a "Navy town."  But all that changed in 1989 when Paul Paulson, a self-described atheist, took the City of San Diego to court saying the cross was unconstitutional since it was on city-owned land.

Paulson apparently thinks only atheists have rights; the removal of the cross is not what the citizens of San Diego wanted, and in a referendum, over 75% voted to keep it. The Court struck this down, saying it was unconstitutional.

There have been other court wrangles over the years, offers to purchase the land, requests to give it to a veterans organization, an offer by the U.S. Congress to receive the land as a gift to the U.S government, votes by the electorate, and many other things to allow the cross to remain. But those who brought the litigation, their supporters and Judge Thompson are not content with any of the compromises offered, nor are they concerned about the will of the electorate. They seem to be hell-bent on seeing the cross of Christ destroyed.

There have been other efforts by Christians to preserve symbols of our heritage and maintain a positive presence in the midst of the decaying American culture. The fight for 10 Commandments monuments is the most recent one. I have felt that such battles were fool's errands, because even when we won, we didn't win much.  But the Mount Soledad battle should not be about a cross made of stone, but about the loss of religious freedom in America and the decadence that has replaced it.

We Christians need to act in a grand manner to let the world know that...
 

• We are sick and tired of secular anti-Christian bigots trying to rewrite history in an effort to erase the Christian foundation of our nation.
  
• We are sick and tired of pundits, politicians and judges twisting the Constitution (U.S. and California) in order to extinguish Christian expression in public.
  
• We are sick and tired of the crippling effect public education is having on our children, something so far out of control that many parents are now forced, by conscience, to home-school their children.
  
• We are sick and tired of the homosexual propaganda that seeks to force people into believing that their tragic malady is a civil right.
  
•  We are sick and tired of letting 3,000 babies die each day in court-sanctioned abortion mills. 
  
• We are sick and tired of the presumptuous judges who feel that their arcane interpretations are  just.
  
• We are sick and tired of the hypocritical university professors who speak of academic freedom but mute Christian voices with their own sophistry.
  
• We are especially sick and tired of politicians who gained office by Christian votes, but who slink from moral responsibility when faced with hard choices.

Secular culture is about ready to devour Christians just as the lions devoured us in the Coliseum during Roman times. If we do not unite now, then we will have no excuse when the jaws of anti-Christian bigotry clamp firmly around our necks and rip off our heads.  That is why it is important that we rally around the cross on Mount Soledad in San Diego. It is a fitting symbol of our greater struggle for religious freedom in America, and our stand against the decadence of our times.

There is a fellow named Mark Larson, a radio broadcaster on KOGO in San Diego, who has called for civil disobedience to save the cross. Even though he is identified with right-wing Republican politics, Larson is still on target. The time has come for Christians to take a stand for the cross and all that it represents.

Veterans memorial below cross on Mt Soledad.

Yes, there have already been some dissenters to Larson's call to action. Marilyn Ireland, of the California Western School of Law, was quoted by NBC San Diego as saying, rather cynically in my view , "I'm sure that it's good for their ratings,"  The reality about Mark Larson, however, is that he is a good Christian brother, and he is not out for ratings. Most Christians will recognize his name and voice as the announcer for Dr. David Jeremiah's Turning Point radio broadcast.

A veteran's group leader also dissented. He said the location of the cross wasn't important, and they would just move their veterans memorial to a different location.

Both the lady lawyer and the veteran have missed the point, however. The Mount Soledad cross is not about how some judge interpreted the California Constitution last week, but about the soul of San Diego, and about the visibility of faith and the faithful in America.

Undoubtedly, there will also be pastors and other Christian leaders who will not want to upset the applecart and will disregard Mark Larson's call to action. They will seek appeasement and compromise. But such leaders are really not leaders at all. We have had enough of that style, and it is now time to upset some Temple tables.

We Christians have a terrible record when it comes to solidarity. Like the old joke goes, "Three Christians, four opinions."  Nevertheless, fighting for the cross in San Diego is a worthy symbol of the larger issues we must address if we are to be salt and light, as our Lord commands, in a decaying and ever-darkening America.


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By Donald L. Hughes
Editor, JesusJournal.com