Atheists Group Tired of Bearing County Crosses

To many, the massive cross atop Mt. Soledad in La Jolla is a treasured landmark, a dramatic fixture on the San Diego landscape.

But for Stephen Thorne, the concrete crucifix is a symbolic slap in the face.

“It is an irritant to me. . . . It hurts me,” Thorne lamented. “It makes it pretty clear what the official religion is supposed to be around here.”

Thorne is an atheist, and he believes the towering Christian monument, which sits on public parkland, represents a violation of a fundamental tenet of the American republic: the separation of church and state.

Terse Letters to Officials

Joined by fellow members of the San Diego chapter of the American Atheists organization, Thorne began a drive last week to force local officials to remove the cross from Mt. Soledad, along with other huge crucifixes at Presidio Park and on Mt. Helix in La Mesa. The group is also seeking the removal of a statue of Jesus on public property in Old Town.

In terse Nov. 6 letters to the city and county of San Diego, Thorne laid out his reasoning.

“I realize that such action may be unpopular, but there are no provisions for popularity in the constitutions of the United States or of California,” wrote Thorne, director of the local atheists group. “There are, however, provisions for the separation of State and Church. These Christian symbols and displays on (public) land clearly violate those constitutional provisions.”

But the group faces a fight. City and county officials say they have no plans to uproot the religious icons unless pressed to do so by their legal advisers. Moreover, several longtime local residents have already begun to rally around the cause of the crosses, vowing to fight Thorne and company every step of the way.

“We were stunned and shocked to find there were people who wanted to see the cross taken down,” said Ruth C. Smith, who for 30 years has helped organize an annual Easter memorial service on Mt. Soledad. “Rest assured we won’t be sitting still. The Lord is on our side. I feel what is right is might.”

Although legal authorities for the city have yet to study the issue, some local officials speculate that the crosses at Presidio Park and on Mt. Soledad may circumvent the church-state separation issue because they are war memorials and of potential historical significance.

Originally Made of Wood

Both crosses were erected in 1913. The Soledad cross was originally made of wood, but that toppled on several occasions and was ultimately replaced in 1954 by the massive concrete model, which was dedicated to the nation’s war dead from World War I through the Korean conflict.

“We’re asking the city attorney to research the whole issue of separation of church and state as it applies to crosses on city land,” said Mary Ann Oberle, deputy director of the Park and Recreation Department. “We’ve heard that someplace there is a Supreme Court decision saying that crosses are OK.”

In the case of Mt. Helix, where the cross sits above a 500-seat amphitheater, officials hope the fact that the monument was standing when the county acquired the parkland will be evidence enough to skirt any legal challenges.

“The cross was already on the property when the land was conveyed to the county in 1929,” said Alex Martinez, assistant county parks director. “From our standpoint, we’re simply living by the terms of the conveyance. . . . Until the county counsel or the Board of Supervisors tells us otherwise, we’re going to continue on with the status quo.”

Such arguments irk Thorne. A veteran of nine years in the Army, he says he would like to see the religious icons replaced by “real war memorials” that honor military personnel of all beliefs, be they Catholic or Calvinist, Anglican or atheist.

“Real war memorials have the names of the dead or a statue of a soldier,” Thorne said. “They’re not worshiping Mars, the god of war, with these crosses, they’re worshiping J. C. These are clearly not war memorials.”

Thorne argued that the status of the crosses as memorials does not matter anyway, citing court cases in Hawaii and Houston, where crucifixes honoring the war dead were removed from hilltops.

On a more fundamental plane, he said the crosses clearly violate the U. S. Constitution.

“It’s our position that private belief belongs on private property,” Thorne said. “If they want to put a cross or symbol of another religion on their lawn, that’s fine with me; just don’t do it on public land. If the county and city put a statue of Satan on Mt. Soledad, we’d oppose that, too.”

The group’s effort was sparked in an offhanded way.

During a dispute a few months ago over prayers leading off the Santee City Council meetings, the atheists’ vice director in East County, Stephen Last, was asked by a newspaper reporter what other battles the group planned.

Last mentioned a desire to see the cross on Mt. Helix, which is near his home, removed along with others in San Diego County. The next day, the issue of the crosses, a topic the atheists had only talked about, was spread across the newspaper’s front page.

Flooded With Calls

Suddenly, Thorne was flooded with phone calls from the media. “We had this huge tidal wave of interest, so we figured we might as well ride it while we could,” he said, noting that the group waited several weeks for the commotion to die down before dispatching letters to local officials.

Despite the odd beginning, Thorne said the group is intent on seeing the campaign to the end, even if it means going to court.

“To us,” he said, “these crosses on public land are not different than whites-only bathrooms in the South.”

Boosters of the crosses, such as Smith, find the push by the atheists distressing.

The wife of a retired Marine chief warrant officer and herself a former Navy nurse, Smith said the Mt. Soledad cross has been recognized for years as a monument to the war dead and, as such, should not be disturbed.

Moreover, she recalls hearing of a court case in Oregon in which a cross was allowed to stand in a community park because it was a war memorial.

“We just can’t accept this,” Smith said. “We’re going to do everything possible and unearth every contact we can to maintain the cross there. We’ll write the new President and we’ll be in contact with Senator (Pete) Wilson and our congressmen.”

“We’re going to do what we have to do,” she said.