Readers React: Cross kicked off the county seal: L.A.’s PC police strike again

To the editor: Congratulations, soldiers of political correctness: Our Los Angeles County seal now has a depiction of a big-box store that resembles a Costco instead of the “historical and architectural reality” of the San Gabriel Mission. (“Christian cross has no place on L.A. County seal, judge rules,” April 7)

Former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky praised the judge’s decision, stating that somehow this was a “great victory for the Constitution and the 1st Amendment” and that “the government should not be in the religion endorsement business.” I guess Yaroslavsky should have told that to the padres who built the missions.

Why have the mission on the seal at all in that case? The missions are a symbolic part of our California history that is taught in every public school, so should we remove the cross from pictures in students’ history books also? Should students not be allowed to place a cross on their homemade mission projects?

Why not just have a blank seal that doesn’t offend anyone?

Patricia Winning, West Hills

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To the editor: When the decision to put a cross on the county seal was being debated in 2014, then-Supervisor Yaroslavsky warned, “The bottom line is that we’re going to spend a lot of money defending an action which is highly likely to be ruled unconstitutional.”

Now, a federal judge has ruled against placement of the cross on the seal. This is no surprise. Arguments by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas, Michael D. Antonovich and Don Knabe claiming that placement of the cross was only in the interest of architectural accuracy were lambasted by many, including The Times’ editorial board.

It was clear to most that this was instead a move to place the symbol of Christianity on the seal to please vocal constituents — and donors — of that particular faith.

L.A. County residents must now ask themselves how many millions of their tax dollars were wasted on the litigation and, possibly, changes to county stationery, vehicles, badges and other items that bear the seal.

Phil Wayne, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Cross or no cross, the San Gabriel Mission remains a Christian structure founded by the recently canonized Father Junipero Serra. This building and its sister missions are a major part of California’s history. Having them depicted with or without their crosses on city or county seals does not constitute “endorsing” a particular religion.

I suppose if Muslims had traversed California’s coast building mosques, or Jews erecting synagogues, or Buddhists establishing stupas, or Latter-day Saints dedicating temples, today’s controversy would center on the appropriateness of the symbols of these faiths on the seal instead of focusing on their role in state history.

The only way to expunge any reference to or “endorsement” of the Christian faith in this instance is to remove the entire image of the mission from the seal, thereby ignoring part of history.

Karen Scott Browdy, Fillmore

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To the editor: Antonovich doesn’t know his history very well. The San Gabriel Mission cannot be the “birthplace of Los Angeles County,” because the county did not even exist until statehood in 1850. Furthermore, depicting the mission without a cross is in accordance with historical fact.

Most importantly, every fourth-grader should know that the purpose (or mission) of the missions was to proselytize and consequently to pacify the local population of first Americans. I find it sadly ironic and desperate to rely on circular logic to justify our own local government’s unconstitutional promotion of this controversial religious icon, which implicitly serves to honor the institutional authorities of two previous governments with the essential mission to proselytize and subjugate the vulnerable masses of those times.

Let this judge’s ruling be a warning: Ventura County, you’re next.

Arthur D. Wahl, Port Hueneme

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