Crosses on the Mounts

San Diego is a city of many hills. Of the dozens that create our unique terrain, we are now officially involved in a legal controversy involving two that reference the city’s religious heritage. Clearly, crosses on Mt. Soledad and Mt. Helix do not represent the faiths of all of our community’s residents.

In the interest of fair play, I invite adherents of the secular faiths to look up. It is likely they will find their icons prominently displayed in the monuments that adorn San Diego’s other promontories:

Devout humanists such as the case’s chief plaintiff, for example, may find solace and meaning as they gaze upon the temples of UC San Diego, while hedonists can rejoice at the sight of the pinnacle of party schools, San Diego State University. Those who trust in science and medicine find reassurance looking to Hillcrest’s “Pill Hill,” and those who live by the values of business and commerce receive the blessings of security that emanate from the Golden Triangle.

Many high points are altars for those who revere nature, the high altar, perhaps at Torrey Pines. Those who live for leisure find a thousand earthly delights await among the hills of Balboa Park. The patriots pay homage at Ft. Rosecrans, and those who live by every word that proceeds out of the mouths of the media can bow down at the titan signal towers that stand atop the College Heights hills.

And let us not ignore that the God of Israel is not the only deity referenced on the two disputed hills, as both Mt. Soledad and Mt. Helix serve as destinations for those on a holy pilgrimage to prosperity.

Lift up your eyes to the hills, San Diego. From where does your help come?

ED CHAPMAN, San Diego